‘Ripe for a change’: Condos planned for Naperville’s downtown Mill Street

Downtown Naperville offices could give way to a condo development next to the park honoring the city’s founding family.

A high-end custom homebuilder plans to tear down the professional building to make room for a four-story, six-unit condominium building, just up the road from the Riverwalk and the Naperville Park District headquarters.

To the north of the property, the bronze likeness of town patriarch Joseph Naper stands at Jefferson Avenue and Mill Street, marking the site of the Naper homestead. A parking lot for the Alfred Rubin Riverwalk Community Center is to the south.

The new building would stand 50 feet tall and include an enclosed, ground-floor parking garage with three stories of residential units above it.

“I do see this as one of those areas in the downtown … that is really ripe for a change and transition,” said Mark Wright, who sits on the Naperville planning and zoning commission.

Lakewest Custom Homes has asked for a rezoning of the property to pave the way for the redevelopment. The plan commission has endorsed the request. At least one nearby resident took issue with the proposed height of the building and has raised broader concerns.

“I think it changes the nature of the downtown area, too, because we have to decide, do we want to be Oak Park with lots of tall, dense population buildings around the downtown, or do we want to be a suburb? I don't know,” Doreen Schweitzer said. “I guess that's a decision as a city we have to make, but definitely all of those tall buildings change the identity of the downtown.”

In 2023, the city council approved zoning entitlements for the development of Riverwalk Place, a four-story luxury condo building at the northwest corner of Mill Street and Jackson Avenue across from Centennial Beach.

“This four-story thing is not very consistent with the style of the rest of the houses,” Schweitzer said.

Naperville’s Downtown 2030 Plan designates the future land use of both properties as part of a “secondary downtown.” Derek McDaniel, the commission’s vice chair, said the Lakewest project aligns with that plan.

“I know as a resident, it might not be easy to hear that word ‘density,’ but that is the evolution of downtown Naperville,” he said.

Schweitzer suggested the existing, Prairie-style building — a “great backdrop for the Joe Naper park” — could be reused. Vince Rosanova, an attorney for the project, said it’s close to 60 years old and has passed its useful life, “not to mention the challenges that we've seen with office uses throughout our community, even predating COVID.”

Each of the condos would range in size from about 3,300 to 3,400 square feet. Each unit would also have a balcony oriented toward Jackson Avenue.

“They will be custom homes, so the homeowner will get to design the floor plans to their specific taste,” Rosanova said, adding that “there'll be more of a great room, open concept, into a kitchen that feeds out into that outdoor, covered area.”

The commission’s decision is advisory; the city council has the final say.