Naperville panel supports CityGate West concept without one hotel
Plans for the proposed $200 million CityGate West campus are moving forward with support from a Naperville panel, with the exception of one key component: a hotel that city officials say cannot be defined as full-service.
The concept of developing a mixed-use, art-inspired destination at the town's northwest gateway was met with praise from many planning and zoning commissioners Wednesday during an extended public hearing. The petitioner's application for the site at the Interstate 88 and Route 59 interchange was unanimously approved, sending the rezoning request, preliminary development plans and a slew of conditional uses and variances to the city council.
But commissioners' backing of the project is subject to 16 conditions, which they recommend be tied to ordinances related to CityGate West. The parameters range from land use restrictions to the requirement of a more detailed phasing plan for the entire property before final approvals are granted for any particular piece.
"There are some significant entitlements that are being requested (for) multiple components of this project. That's, I think, the beauty of it," Chairman Bruce Hanson said.
"I think we're all in agreement that it's going to be exciting when we see this whole thing completed," Hanson said. "The conditions are essential for the city to continue to work closely with the petitioner as this moves forward."
The panel also echoed staff members' concerns that one of two proposed hotels does not meet Naperville's qualifications for a full-service facility.
Representing the CityGate West team, attorney Michael Roth said the city's requirements related to building size, an on-site restaurant and a banquet facility are accommodated by other nearby uses - particularly the existing Topgolf and WhirlyBall game centers that he says are central to the project.
But those businesses operate independently and are not included in the legal description of the CityGate West campus, Senior Assistant City Assistant Patricia Lord said. The proposed hotel is no different from those without a banquet facility that have "routinely been rejected" over the last 17 years, she said.
"It is a limited-service hotel," Lord said. "The fact that there are adjacent restaurants or banquet facilities in the area does not make it comply with the code by virtue of them being in the vicinity."
The panel voted 8-1 to deny the use. Commissioner Krishna Bansal cast the lone "yes" vote, saying he sees both sides of the argument.
A second hotel planned for the site's southwest corner satisfies the intent of the code, staff members said, because of the simultaneous construction and operation of attached event spaces, including a 7,200-square-foot banquet hall.
An enclosed corridor also will connect the hotel to the former Odyssey Fun World, slated to be repurposed into a mixed-use entertainment venue with a restaurant, wine bar, retail and private meeting rooms, development plans show.
Other components of CityGate West include several restaurant and retail sites, a medical office building, 19 acres of open space, and two mixed-use apartment buildings with 410 total units and ground-level commercial space.
As requested by the commission at a previous meeting, project leaders on Wednesday offered more details related to plans for the shuttered Odyssey Fun World, reduced building heights, revised residential density figures and the potential phasing of the project, which they said is largely dependent on the market.
The goal is to have the entire development completed within nine years, Roth said, pointing to assurances committing the team to that timeline. Certain pieces would be constructed together, officials said, but exactly when and in what order each section gets built is unknown.
"COVID has put an interesting kibosh on the market," said project representative Geoff Roehll of Hitchcock Design Group. "We don't know how it's going to recover, so we're asking for flexibility on the sequencing."