Naperville strip mall is 'blank slate' for students

The vacant storefronts and empty parking spaces of Iroquois Center in Naperville represent "complete freedom" and "a blank slate" for about 25 high school students who get to share design ideas for how to redevelop the site.

In an architecture project for teacher Becky Diorio's class at Naperville North High School, the students are taking on the role of property developer for the 14-acre site of a decades-old strip mall at Ogden and Iroquois avenues that's far from its busiest days.

"It should be obvious as you walk through this property what condition it's in," Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico told students Friday from inside one of the empty shops on the city's northeast side. "What's not obvious is what direction we want to take it in."

The students are assigned to design a mixed-use destination with shopping, dining, living spaces and entertainment, following all the zoning, parking, landscaping and stormwater requirements of the city of Naperville. Past that, it's up to them.

Naperville North senior James Zhu asked what to do about existing businesses like Planet Fitness, Sakura Sushi, Joy Yee Noodle or Cuisine of India?

"Consider their leases about to expire," said Bill Novack, the city's director of transportation, engineering and development.

Zhu and his classmates toured the site Friday as one of the first steps in a project that will conclude in April, when small groups of students will make 15-minute presentations about their designs to a panel of neighbors and community leaders.

Young architects let their imaginations roam as they pictured smaller buildings to break up the center's long lines of connected spaces and a new traffic flow to divide its expanse of parking spots.

Some considered putting in some green space. They all hope to balance retail and restaurant uses, including some spots to interest their peers - seniors in high school - and others more geared toward the senior citizen crowd.

"I drive by this place so many times and it's just never occurred to me that maybe we could do something with it and build something better," Zhu said. "I step into architecture classes and all of a sudden we're designing for the city of Naperville."

Student designs won't necessarily come to fruition, as Christine Jeffries, president and CEO of the Naperville Development Partnership, said the city already is in talks with professional developers about the future of the site.

But student views could inform the adults' conversations with developers and give examples of what residents think the area needs.

"It's always great to have this generation talk about what they want to see," Jeffries said.

Redeveloping Iroquois Center is just part of a larger rebirth of the northeastern gateway into Naperville, Jeffries and Chirico said. The adjacent Ogden Mall, with its vacant former Kmart, also is ripe for a redo, and other nearby open spaces are being created by the relocation of two car dealerships on Ogden near Naper Boulevard.

"We do believe that getting one launched will help move the others and change the genre," Jeffries said. "We're hoping for big redevelopment changes."

Diorio said she hopes her students will be inspired by the real-world chance to put architectural drafting knowledge to the test.

"They're applying their software skills by designing a development," Diorio said.