A ‘generational project’: Naperville ready to revisit 5th Avenue redevelopment potential

City-owned land along 5th Avenue near the Naperville Metra station has long been considered ripe for redevelopment.

The old Kroehler furniture factory is the historic centerpiece of the corridor — the brick building turned into loft-style apartments and commercial space — but it’s surrounded mostly by a sea of parking lots.

The area was previously targeted for an ambitious mix of housing, offices, parking garages, retail as well as health and wellness space and a public plaza. But the project never got off the drawing board amid pandemic uncertainty and neighborhood concerns, despite many iterations.

Now, Naperville officials are set to revisit the issue with the help of the Urban Land Institute. The organization ULI Chicago is assembling a panel of real estate professionals who will offer a fresh look at the city-owned properties around the 5th Avenue train station and the redevelopment possibilities.

“We take a holistic approach to the process,” said panel chair Jon Talty, CEO of Chicago-based OKW Architects.

“We bring together a variety of professionals in the real estate industry, from developers, architects, civil engineers, traffic consultants and planners … and together, we come up with actionable solutions to challenging pieces of real estate,” Talty said.

The panel is scheduled to be held next month and will be tasked with addressing a list of key questions approved by the city council.

Among them: How can the redevelopment encourage regular transit users to “occupy any new residential units, thereby decreasing overall on-site parking demand?” Should parcels be offered separately or as one master lease/sale? How can new development on the site address Naperville’s “known housing gaps … while meeting private development interests?”

“We are a third party … As a result, I think we can bring to you solutions that have zero preconceived notions or agenda with our process,” Talty recently told the city council.

The city had to formally apply for a “technical assistance panel.”

“The third-party expertise the TAP can provide is a necessary and neutral starting point for future exploration, discussion, and consideration around this 14.5 acres of land in our city,” noted Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli in a letter to the institute’s executive director.

The city was notified earlier this year that its application had been selected.

“I think it is an honor to have some of the greatest minds in the country on this topic, coming to our community, feeling that our downtown space, our train station space, is worthy of this kind of attention,” City Councilman Ian Holzhauer said.

He hopes that “this begins a process where the community does feel that sense of trust, understands the significance of you coming out here, and … ultimately, we can move forward with something that is a generational project that we can be proud of.”

The most recent saga around 5th Avenue started in 2017, when the then-council authorized developer Ryan Companies to conduct community engagement and market research for the purpose of presenting a concept plan for redevelopment of the area, according to a city memo.

Then-Mayor Steve Chirico and Councilman Patrick Kelly eventually worked with Ryan Companies on a revised concept in response to community concerns related to traffic, parking, height, density, pedestrian safety and green space amenities, the memo stated, but a steering committee did not endorse it.

The city announced in 2020 that the work on the project would cease, citing uncertainty from the pandemic, “namely related to commuter parking needs.”

The ULI panelists plan to tour the site, conduct stakeholder interviews and provide a report to the city. Past panels have produced reports on how to reimagine Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue and the LaSalle Street financial district.

“We don't do this in a vacuum,” Talty said. “We do this with the support and the input from local business leaders, the political arena and residents of the city. So it's a collective effort.”