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Naperville to add downtown valet for Empire bar

The new Empire bar in downtown Naperville will offer valet parking, but only after a city council debate about where the service stand should be located and if valet is a necessity or a luxury.

The new valet stand will take up two parking spaces immediately east of Main Street on the south side of Chicago Avenue — right outside of the restaurant that opened this week at 48 W. Chicago Ave.

It's also immediately across the street from a valet parking operation for Sullivan's Steakhouse at 244 S. Main St., which caused some fears about traffic backups.

“It'd be different if it were down the block,” council member Patty Gustin said about the valet for Empire, which will be run by Silver Crown Valet.

“I think there's going to be some real concerns for the traffic flow.”

Since Gustin and others worried that another valet parking stand would worsen congestion, council member Rebecca Boyd-Obarski questioned whether the service is necessary.

“I think it's a nice luxury that we may be able to have,” she said, but not a requirement for a bar or restaurant to succeed in the city's busy downtown environment.

Jennifer Louden, deputy director of the transportation, engineering and development department, said valet service is actually a parking management strategy that disperses vehicles to spots that wouldn't ordinarily be used during peak bar and restaurant hours, such as those at a funeral home, the municipal center or nearby schools.

That way diners who choose to park on their own can find closer spots in city garages or on-street parking.

Louden said the spots on Chicago immediately east of Main Street are the best site for the valet stand. There, the setup won't be in the way of taxis that line up further east, closer to Washington Street, in the evening.

“I think this is going to improve the situation having valet in both directions,” Mayor Steve Chirico said. “This is an important service. We need to have valet in downtown Naperville now and going forward.”

If the Empire valet service clogs traffic or causes safety issues, council members can revisit it or revoke the valet permit at any time.

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