Dave shares readers' ideas for improving Tri-Cities
Readers enjoyed having their say about what they would like to see happen with retail and commercial development around the Tri-Cities last year.
In going through my notes and emails, a few good ideas that haven't been printed yet are worth sharing.
One reader mentioned the hope that the new owners of The Quad, formerly Charlestowne Mall, would consider not tearing down the vacant Sears wing of the building.
St. Charles students travel all over the area to participate in club sports activities at indoor stadium settings. If that wing became an indoor stadium with about eight courts, it could host weekend tournaments and, presto, draw a bunch of families and potential shoppers to the region. It would also help any outlying restaurants the developers may be planning to complement the mall makeover.
Another idea calls for the Hotel Baker owners to consider the empty Vertical Drop location on Main Street as an extension of the hotel with a new, larger banquet hall.
Its proximity to the hotel would be ideal for banquets, arts events, or seminars about finance or various hobbies, the reader said.
Finally, if the former Al Capone's Hideaway restaurant in St. Charles Township is transformed into a new restaurant, the owner should consider an outdoor eating area with a screened porch and ceiling fans.
The thinking is there are way too many bugs, birds and other creatures at this spot along the Fox River to have a regular outdoor eating patio. Not to mention humidity and rain, two very common things that can ruin summer evenings.
From where I sit, with no money at stake in these projects, they sound like ideas worth thinking about.
The 'real' problem
If anything really needs to be fixed in the Tri-Cities area as we move into 2015, it has to be the various strip malls, all in different stages of occupancy and aesthetics. That's a fancy way of saying some are nearly empty and looking horrendous.
We'll start to take a closer look next week at what we're dealing with here. For lack of a better term, we'll call it my "strip mall assessment."
It's a significant dilemma, one in which residents should have a better idea of what their elected officials and chambers of commerce are facing. Awareness leads to ideas, and maybe we can come up with some good ones regarding what essentially is becoming urban blight in some cases.
That's a good 'za
Under the category of "better late than never," I finally had a Rosati's pizza over the holidays from the St. Charles location.
You get locked into your favorite pizza joints, and it is sometimes hard to try something else. So, in a move that finally pried me away from Salerno's in St. Charles or Morano's in Geneva or Pal Joey's in Batavia, we tried Rosati's. And it was excellent.
Nice photo in wait
As soon as it gets cold enough on a regular basis for St. Charles' downtown ice skating rink to lure skaters to the Lincoln Park site, it should make for a beautiful photo.
The lighted trees in the park in front of the St. Patrick church makes for an idyllic winter scene. The skating rink, right in front of the park's gazebo, will add some real sparkle.
Remember that idea?
Speaking of ice skating rinks, remember those advertisements inside the near-empty Charlestowne Mall touting an indoor ice skating rink as "coming soon?"
Good thing that silly idea never materialized. An indoor skating rink is located not too far from the mall site down Kirk Road at the Fox Valley Ice Arena.
Funny feeling
Why is it that a funny feeling overtakes me when looking at all of excavating going on around the Charlestowne Mall, now The Quad, for its re-construction? Or, maybe not so funny.
That feeling? The investors possibly rethinking the pros and cons of the project and, gulp, bailing out and leaving us with nothing more than a nearly empty mall and a lot of fresh dirt.
That's not possible, right? Right?
Sight to behold
It's been quite some time since we noticed a new subdivision going up in the area. But there it was, ground broken and lot lines staked at Randall and Silver Glen roads in St. Charles.
Pulte is building the Trails of Silver Glen. Does it mean we can expect another run of new home building in the area in the not too distant future?
That's a crystal ball question for which the local schools would love an answer.
Those new looks
The Wendy's in St. Charles along Randall Road went through quite a transformation last month with a makeover of its outside facade. Now, the Wendy's location down the road a bit in Batavia is going through the same routine.
The drive-through is open during this type of construction work.
Fans of the restaurant will like what they see when it is completed.
A quick 30 years
It's hard to believe that Christ Community Church in St. Charles is celebrating its 30th anniversary next weekend at its Randall Road campus.
This popular church has played an important role in its ministry and outreach programs in the community.
But remember when that stretch of Randall Road was being tabbed "church row" because of all of the new church buildings going up? Yes, folks, that was in the mid 1980s to the early 1990s.
dheun@sbcglobal.net