11 years later, Naperville reconsiders Nichols Library garage construction

An idea for a parking garage at Nichols Library in downtown Naperville that fell out of consideration around the time of the Great Recession could be coming back in style.

City officials recently convened a group to discuss the possibility of building a garage at the library at 200 W. Jefferson Ave. following a design approved in the late 2000s.

The idea is to use the design for a three-story, 500-space garage to apply for state funding that soon will be available because of the increased motor fuel tax. As a predesigned project, city officials say, the garage could fare well in the grant application process.

“This would be the only shovel-ready public project that Naperville would have,” Mayor Stave Chirico said. “That (grant money) really could go a long way to making that affordable for us.”

The city plans to schedule an open house in the next several weeks to show the garage design to the public. Early word from the officials, downtown leaders and neighbors who reviewed the plan is that it could work — even 11 years after the city council decided not to seek bids and to hold off on construction.

“The group as a whole validated that the deck design is still a really, really good design for that site,” said Jennifer Louden, deputy director of transportation, engineering and development.

The design calls for an L-shaped garage wrapped around the library with a brick facade and a plaza at the southeast corner of Jefferson Avenue and Eagle Street, where “The Cat In The Hat” sculpture stands. Louden said the garage would cost roughly $23.5 million and would be built into the hill on the site, so from Jackson Avenue it would be three stories tall, but from Jefferson — at the library's main entrance — it would appear two stories tall.

The garage would replace the 130 surface spots in the library lot now. So it would add a total of 370 spaces to the roughly 3,000 public spots available in the entire downtown.

Chris Finck lives right next to where the garage could be built. He said the project was thoroughly vetted in the late 2000s to arrive at a final design city leaders, neighbors and the downtown business community all supported.

“What we ended up with is something that would fit as best as it can in a residential area in kind of an entry point for Naperville,” Finck said. “I think when people see the drawing, they're going to say, ‘Wow, that actually looks pretty good. It ties in with the library.'”

He said building the garage could help with traffic congestion because it would locate hundreds of new spots on the west side of downtown so people driving in from the west would not have to circle seeking street spaces. A garage at Nichols Library would give the city one parking deck in each direction of the downtown, with public garages already open on Chicago Avenue to the east, Water and Webster streets to the south and Van Buren Avenue to the north.

“You park, then walk, which is what we want people to do — whether you're going to the library or to the Riverwalk or going shopping or getting something to eat,” Finck said.

The idea with reconsidering the garage now is to use the previously approved design — which cost roughly $1 million to create at the end of a multiyear process — not to reinvent the garage's size or what it could look like, Louden said.

The city plans to create a webpage soon to display garage drawings and details.

Nichols garage timeline

The idea of a parking garage at the Nichols Library in downtown Naperville has been discussed, on and off, for at least 22 years, according to Daily Herald archives. Here are the highlights.

1998: Potential underground garage with 220 to 350 spaces proposed at estimated cost of $8,000 to $10,000 per space

1999: 265-space garage proposed for $4.6 million, but officials hold off; move forward with Van Buren parking deck instead

2002: Van Buren deck completed

2004: City council commissioned study to identify site for third parking garage

2005: Potential 220-space garage at Nichols discussed to help fill 850-space need in downtown

2006: Several options for garage at Nichols proposed, including 350-space, L-shaped deck with a library expansion above; or a 522-space, 5-story garage at cost of $14.5 million

2007: City council moves forward with proposal for 450-space garage at estimated cost of $15 million

2008: 570-space garage for $20 million included as part of $43 million parking plan that also involved expansion of Van Buren parking deck and early idea for what became Water Street parking deck; City council calls off Nichols garage plan after spending $1 million on design and engineering because of recession and $5.1 million budget shortfall

2016: Water Street deck completed

2020: Mayor Steve Chirico convenes working group to consider reviving Nichols garage plan as previously designed, seeking state grant funding to help build it