Parking plan ready for Naperville's downtown Water Street District
As the transformation of the Water Street District nears completion in downtown Naperville, the city is making plans for how to govern parking within the hotel, restaurant and retail development.
The development by Naperville-based Marquette Companies comes with a 521-space, six-story parking garage on the south side of Water Street, around which a Hotel Indigo is being completed. The hotel aims to open by mid-October, in time for the fourth annual Healthy Driven Naperville Marathon and Half Marathon on Oct. 23 and homecoming at North Central College Oct. 27-30.
"It looks like we will make those two events," Marquette Companies spokeswoman Deb Newman said Friday.
So the city council could vote Tuesday on parking regulations that spell out who can leave their car where within the new garage.
The plan, according to a city memo, is to allow free, public, three-hour parking on the first floor as well as on part of the second and third stories. Other space on the second and third floors, as well as part of the fourth and fifth floors, will be taken by 120 spots reserved for hotel guests bearing parking passes. The sixth floor, as well as part of the fourth and fifth levels, will be public unlimited parking and spaces for downtown employees, such as workers at the new hotel, banquet center, shops and restaurants.
The city owns the parking garage, so the hotel will be renting its reserved spaces under a cost-sharing agreement approved in late 2014.
One other potential parking regulation could prohibit valet services from parking customers' cars within the new garage. The city's transportation advisory board suggested that rule to ensure finding a spot is not too difficult for the general public. If approved, the valet prohibition would be re-evaluated after the garage has been open for a year.
Work at the Water Street District began in April 2015 with demolition of underused buildings and groundbreaking on a new set of structures. The plan has been in the works since 2007 but has undergone several variations and delays.
The first businesses could open as soon as late September or early October. Shops include Southern Tide, an apparel brand that could open first, Traveling Tots and London Skye. Restaurants include Elements banquets as well as SixtyFour - A Wine Bar; Quiubo, Mexican fine dining; Santo Cielo, farm-to-table; Blue Sushi Sake Grill, upscale Japanese; and State & Main, a British-style pub.