Mysterious redevelopment plan sets Naperville atwitter

Word of an elaborate redevelopment proposal for public land around Naperville's Fifth Avenue train station has raised eyebrows among some residents and caused work on a city study to be halted.

An official from the Omnia Performing Arts Association acknowledged today that her group recently made a nearly two-hour presentation to city council members, but said a public unveiling is weeks away.

"We ask the public to please wait until you have all the facts, which will be revealed as soon as possible," said Omnia President Bev Patterson Frier. "Nothing is accomplished by jumping to conclusions."

According to several councilmen who have seen Omnia's presentation, the group is proposing an almost complete redevelopment of publicly owned land around the downtown train depot.

"It's got a retail component, a residential component, an office component and a performing arts component," Councilman James Boyajian said.

"It's all inclusive and quite large," he said. "It's a great presentation that's very visionary, but it's got some huge, huge discussion points."

The council delayed debate on another traffic and development study planned for the Fifth Avenue corridor at Tuesday's council meeting to give Omnia officials and city staff a chance to talk about how the proposal would affect the area. It was tabled until Nov. 20.

No formal development proposal has been submitted to the city by Omnia and no meetings between staff and Omnia have been scheduled yet, city staff said.

The original area study was commissioned to determine the best use for the land where the city's public works garage is located. A new facility is being built on the city's west side and no decision has been made on what will become of the vacated parcel.

Homeowners in the area are concerned about rumors of the breadth of Omnia's proposal and how little they've seen of it so far.

"In our opinion, thus far, they are subverting the public process," said Ann Hahn-Baiyor, a board member of the East Central Homeowners Association, which borders the train station. "I'd like to tell them they're looking like the bad guy going into this."

Hahn-Baiyor said there are concerns about the height and density of any development as well as pedestrian safety in an already congested area.

Frier was tight-lipped about her group's plans, saying they are still making presentations to other civic leaders before going public. She said the public unveiling likely will happen in December.

"We want to create a cultural district," she said.

Councilman Kenn Miller said it's a good idea for city staff to consider the Omnia proposal together with the planned area study because they are tied together. He said the presentation he saw included a nearly 3,000-seat theater that would rival Broadway-caliber theaters in downtown Chicago.

"It's an ambitious project with some very interesting concepts," he said. "But there are questions."

Boyajian was concerned about financing and ownership.

"There's no way the city should have any ownership of this and I have some serious questions about getting involved financially," he said. "It's got a lot of nuances to it that make it so problematic it may never happen."

Frier said her group has looked at close to 20 sites in the city and settled on the train station area because of the development options available there.