Field trip helps teens envision their futures
About 40 young men and one woman studying architecture, research and design at Naperville North High School recently got the chance to meet with the developers and builders of the $93 million Water Street District under construction in downtown Naperville.
The mayor and city staff also talked with students before the teens donned hard hats to go onto the site to see the construction process up close.
Mayor Steve Chirico and Bill Novak, director of transportation, engineering and development, talked about the city approval process as well as the legal agreements and construction documentation required to put together a project of the scale of Water Street.
"This was the first big project we tackled when I came on council," Chirico said. "It took a tremendous amount of work to make the kind of project that would be good for the city. Now we have a front-row seat to watch the construction, and it's exciting to see the progress of this economic engine for our downtown."
Novak noted that it took years of planning and give-and-take between the developer and the city staff to arrive at details that were agreeable.
"Plenty of developers would have walked away, but Nick Ryan hung in there and worked with us every step of the way. Every change represented tens of thousands of dollars, but in the end, we got a better project."
The program, designed to show the students real-life construction conditions, was coordinated by developers Marquette, construction manager Lend Lease, and Julie Carlson, director of community relations at Naperville Unit District 203.
"This experience provides an authentic learning lab for our students," Carlson said. "Second semester, they will enter an architecture and design competition to revise the Iroquois Shopping Center. Visiting Water Street will inform that process. Our goal is to improve college and career readiness with authentic learning.
"The city has been a great partner, providing internships to help student learn about public sector jobs. This is a great enhancement to that experience."
Nick Ryan, CEO of Marquette Companies, described the mixed-use development, including construction of the new 520-space parking garage; the 158-room Hotel Indigo, which will wrap the garage, as well as continuing in the Loggia building across Water Street, along with a 250-person banquet facility and restaurants and retail; the Theatre Building, which will house additional restaurants; and the plaza, fountain, Riverwalk extension and Boardwalk.
He detailed the dozens of career opportunities represented in the project, from developers, architects, planners, engineers and trades people to purchasing, interior design, landscape architecture, hotel management and operations, banquet management and operations, marketing and signage design.
"I'm really excited that we could show them all the opportunities in our business," he said. "Hopefully, we've helped them make informed choices for their futures."
Following a safety briefing and distribution of safety equipment, students and faculty were taken on site by Todd Hicks and Randy Selvaggio of Lend Lease to see the masonry work in the garage structure, alley construction, river work and coffer dam construction, excavation for the Theatre Building and structural steel being erected for the Loggia building.
Jay Wachtel, instructional coordinator for career and technical education at Naperville North, said many of the students were deciding on career options and colleges.
"This project is pretty unique in its scope and that it is a commercial development," Wachtel said.
"Our kids don't get this kind of opportunity to see this type of development and talk to the people making it happen every day. It's one thing to be in an architecture or drafting class, but seeing the real thing is really special."