Naperville chamber not likely to take sides in Freedom Plaza debate
Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce CEO John Schmitt will not play favorites.
Schmit attempted Monday to end rumors and speculation the chamber supports the Freedom Plaza development proposed on Abriter Court just north of Diehl Road in the Illinois Research & Development Corridor.
Schmitt was forced to address the issue at the end of Monday’s meeting of the chamber’s legislative committee when pressed by member Ray Kinney.
“Any particular reason why our chamber is advocating on behalf of a specific development that has not come before our legislative committee?” Kinney asked as the meeting was about to adjourn.
“There is a lot of disagreement in this community over this particular project. And I wish we would keep the merit of this project at the forefront of our discussion and not get into some of the personal things that I’m seeing that we’re getting in to,” Schmitt said. “I’ve expressed to some of you that I have an opinion about the project but the chamber of commerce has not taken a position on this project. And I don’t intend to bring it to our board of directors.”
Schmitt said he believes the misinformation stems from a paid advertisement sent to chamber members encouraging them to support the project and from a particular relationship the chamber has with the public relations firm touting the project to the community.
Longtime chamber employee Patrick Skarr recently left the chamber’s employ to work for Culloton Strategies, which operates from a suite in the chamber’s facility at 55 South Main St. The group also is contracted with the chamber to provide the chamber with Skarr and several other employees “to move the chamber’s mission forward.”
“This developer (Superhost) has contracted with local business people to get their message out. One of those is the law firm of Rosanova and Whitaker and another one is Culloton Strategies,” Schmitt said. “Culloton is not only a member of the chamber but he’s also a virtual tenant of the chamber that uses our conference rooms and our phones and pays us money to do so. Sometimes calls from that phone do show up on a Caller ID that they were made from the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.”
Kinney said he felt the chamber should debate the merits of the project and make a decision to either support or not support the plan, currently before city council members, that includes a 165-room full-service Embassy Suites hotel with a 20,000-square-foot conference facility, a free-standing Pita Inn restaurant and the River Walk Manor Alzheimer’s/memory care and assisted-living facility.
The crux of the debate over the project appears to center on whether the assisted-living facility is an acceptable use in the high-tech corridor.
Schmitt said he will not bring the project to the executive board for debate but said any of the other 27 executive board members are free to do so.
“One of the things I have tried to do during my tenure in this job is not to give one particular business an advantage
at the expense of other businesses,” he said. “I try to do that whether it be an office products company, a car dealer, whatever.”
The development is scheduled to be debated again before city council members on Nov. 15.