Developer wants to build 242-unit apartment building in Warrenville

A little-used section of a parking lot in Warrenville's Cantera development could become the site of a new 242-unit apartment building.

The Warrenville plan commission on Thursday recommended approval of Covington Realty Partners' plan to redevelop roughly 5.4 acres of the parking lot west of the Regal Cantera Stadium 17 movie theater along Diehl Road. The city council is expected to consider the commission's recommendation later this month.

If the project is approved, Covington Realty Partners would build a roughly 269,000-square-foot building that would feature 242 upscale apartments on four floors. It will have a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.

The building would have an interior courtyard that would include a swimming pool, outdoor kitchen and multiple seating areas. It also would have a parking garage.

Ronald Mentzer, Warrenville's director of community and economic development, said the theater had ample parking back when it had 30 screens and a lot more seats. Now that there are fewer screens and seats, a large section of the parking lot is "virtually never used."

"So it's a good thing that they're redeveloping it," he said.

He said businesses in Cantera are pleased with the proposal because it would add more residents to the development, which has a mix of retail, residential and office uses.

"The restaurants are happy because if you put more people close by, it helps their business," Mentzer said.

The proposed apartment building is expected to attract young professionals, divorced individuals and empty-nesters who are downsizing.

"It's a wide range of people that they would gear the project toward," Mentzer said.

Rent is expected to range from $1,100 to more than $2,800 per month.

If Covington Realty Partners is able to get approval from the city within the next two months, construction of the building could start this year.

"It takes two years to build this scale of a project," Mentzer said. "So they want to get going as soon as possible."