Plan for $1.9M duplexes in downtown St. Charles advances, despite worries over tree removal
A proposed housing development in downtown St. Charles took another step toward final approval last week with a positive recommendation from the city’s planning and development committee.
St. Charles developer J&B Builders Inc. plans to build an eight-unit duplex development called River 504 Rowhomes, at the northeast corner of South First and Prairie streets.
The project would include four buildings, each with four stories, on the last remaining vacant lot on South First Street downtown.
The original plans for the site called for a mixed-use development with commercial space on the first floor, but developers are seeking approval to rezone the property to residential, increase the building height limit from 49 feet to 57 feet and reduce the setback along South First Street from 5 feet to just under 3.5 feet.
The committee, made up of city council members, raised concerns over the removal of the commercial aspect and developers’ plans to remove existing trees from the site, but ultimately recommended approval of the planned unit amendment in a split vote.
As proposed, the duplexes would face First Street and have two-car garages in the rear, accessible via private driveways from Limestone Drive. Each unit would be a total 6,226 square feet, with patios and rooftop terraces.
River 504 would be the final development of the Brownstone planned unit development, approved in 2001, which includes the adjacent Brownstone townhouses along the riverfront and the mixed-use Milestone Row building along South First Street, just north of the site of the current proposal.
Plans include 15 diagonal public parking spaces along the front of the buildings, as well as streetscape improvements and landscaping areas on the east side of South First Street. Developers also would be responsible for connecting the Prairie Street sidewalk to the riverwalk.
Developers say they’re looking at a price of $1.9 million for each unit, and they intend to pay a $14,687 fee instead of providing affordable units.
The proposal had received a positive recommendation from the city’s plan commission on Aug. 19, with the condition that two parking spots be replaced with landscaping islands to incorporate additional trees and plantings.
Multiple committee members favored parking over landscaping islands and took issue with developers’ plans to remove the existing trees on the south side of the site, which staff said was the most efficient option to install sewer lines. Members questioned why the commercial use that was part of the original plans was removed.
J&B representative Brian Buoy, who presented the planned unit development application at the Sept. 8 meeting, said the original mixed-use concept was not financially feasible and the residential designs are a better fit for the current market.
Buoy said the target market for selling units at the $1.9 million price point is people moving out of a large single-family home who want to live in St. Charles.
Buoy said the duplexes will be built in two phases, constructing two buildings at a time.
“We have the first building spoken for,” he said.
Despite concerns over tree removal, committee members gave the amendment a positive recommendation without conditions in a 5-3 vote. Plans now will go before the full city council for final approval.