Traffic study eyed for old St. Charles mall site

A pending traffic study is expected to determine the extent of infrastructure improvements needed to support a mammoth redevelopment plan at the former site of a St. Charles mall.

A Geneva developers has proposed building 900 condominiums and apartments and 300,000 square feet of offices and retail on the northeast corner of Randall Road and Route 38.

In coming months, the city plans to commission a traffic study to find out how the development would affect traffic in and around the site and what road improvements might be needed to bear any additional load.

Under a tentative agreement headed to the city council for final approval this month, developer Shodeen Management would pick up the study's expense, projected at about $25,000. Officials said crews from traffic consultant Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick Inc. of Elgin would study the site during peak hours Mondays through Saturdays.

"I happen to believe what this traffic study will show is that a significant portion of the required transportation infrastructure already is in place," Mayor Don DeWitte said Friday.

"You have to remember that was a 300,000-square-foot mall in a previous life, with the existing roadway infrastructure already in place. What we're going to have to look at is what the residential component might add to it."

So far, the redevelopment plan, expected to cost upward of $400 million, has received mostly positive feedback from city aldermen who have long sought to get the site back on the tax rolls.

The mall closed in 1996 and was demolished in 2002. The land has been vacant since.

Shodeen has proposed what officials described as an "ambitious" redevelopment plan, which consists of clusters of buildings up to five stories tall, with retail, and restaurants on the street level and residential or office space on the upper floors.

The plan also calls for an entertainment center with an outdoor ice skating rink.