Batavia to give $1 million for apartment development

The city of Batavia is giving $1 million to a developer to buy and develop land for a low- to moderate-income apartment building.

This week, city council members unanimously approved the agreement with Fox River Affordable Housing Corp.

The 72-unit building, the Residence at River Point, will be constructed at 400 S. River St. (Route 25), where a limestone quarry once operated.

The developer expects to close on the property in July and take about 14 months to build the project.

The city is taking the $1 million from an account for a tax increment financing district. TIF 3 began in 2005 and is due to expire at the end of 2027.

According to the developer, the project is estimated to cost about $28 million.

A rezoning of the site was approved by the city council in February.

“It is very exciting to see new housing going up in our downtown,” Alderman Abby Beck said Monday night.

The project is on the far southeast edge of the downtown, across from Clark Island Park, about four blocks south of Wilson Street. Wilson bisects the heart of the downtown.

Eighteen of the units will be reserved for people earning 30% or less of the median income for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metropolitan statistical area; 38 for those making 60% or less; and 16 for those making 80% or less.

For a one-person household, the area median income is $49,183, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

If the project isn’t built within five years, the agreement requires the developer to either repay the money it receives from the city or turn the site over to the city.