Yorktown Apartments to build parking garage

Yorktown Apartments in Lombard got the go-ahead this week to build a new parking garage and eventually add another apartment building to the property on Highland Avenue north of Yorktown Center.

The company that owns the apartment complex, Denver-based Aimco, is getting architectural and engineering work done for the design of the new garage, which it hopes to begin building in spring, said Wes Powell, Aimco's vice president of development.

“The existing garage is not particularly functional for us and it doesn't provide covered parking for our residents so there's some amenity factor,” Powell said. “We're just looking to replace an aging structure and do so with long-term land use in mind.”

The plan commission approved the parking garage plan Monday night, Christopher Stiling, assistant director of community development, said. The commission also gave Aimco permission to build a seven-story, 96-unit apartment building sometime in the future.

“We don't have any near-term plans to begin formal design work,” Powell said. “It's driven by market conditions.”

A development ordinance from the 1960s, when the apartment buildings were constructed, governs aspects of the property such as how far the building must be from Highland Avenue and the property's maximum number of apartment units, Stilling said.

Under that ordinance, Aimco has to receive approval only from the plan commission before making changes to the site. The commission checked Aimco's plans for the parking garage and new apartment building and determined they followed the ordinance, Stilling said.

“The property is under a planned development (ordinance) that requires site plan approval for any changes, and we're within all the existing planned development requirements,” Powell said.