Condos, not hotel in St. Charles' First Street plans

The next phase of St. Charles' key downtown redevelopment project - First Street - now is expected to feature condos instead of a five-story hotel.

Aldermen renewed discussion Monday night on the vision for First Street. The last significant debate about changing the plan came 16 months ago when the First Street Redevelopment team pitched an idea for a 108-room hotel. The hotel was to occupy the lot in the project closest to Main Street.

The selling point centered on the idea that the downtown needs customers more than it needs residents. And a hotel would provide a revolving pool of customers.

But the plan drew strong criticism from the owners of the historic Hotel Baker, which sits across Main Street from the site. The Hotel Baker owners believed citing a hotel so close to their business would be fatal for one of the city's landmarks. There has been little public discussion of the hotel plan since then.

"That idea went away," City Administrator Mark Koening said. "The developer actually withdrew that plan voluntarily and went back to the original concept."

Sort of. The original plan, approved in 2015, envisioned a four-story building with first-floor shops and 36 apartments on the upper levels. On Monday, the development team pitched a five-story building.

The first floor would still be retail. The second floor would be office space. The remaining upper floors would feature 14 condos for private sale.

It wasn't that long ago when the idea of condos was a deal breaker. The First Street team didn't believe they would sell. But the current First Street building under construction, adjacent to the river, has shown such strong consumer interest that it changed the team's minds.

Adding the fifth floor and making the second level office space will serve the dual role of still putting bodies/customers right in the downtown while also providing a buffer between the first floor retail and the condo owners, the team argues.

Aldermen had no issues with any of those ideas, and the city staff views the switch from apartments to condos as an upgrade. Aldermen cast a preliminary unanimous vote in support of the changes. They will vote to lock in the plan at the next meeting of the city council.

The vote will pave the way for construction to begin this coming spring.