New developer plans to finish Glen Ellyn condo project approved in 2007
A developer has stepped forward to restart a Glen Ellyn condominium project that stalled during the recession.
Rubina Shakir, president of RSS Homes LLC has purchased vacant land where he aims to complete the Georgetown by the River development on the west side of Swift Road between St. Charles and Lynn roads.
The new owner and the general contractor, Green Dot Builders LLC, must adhere to plans originally approved by the village in April 2007. Trustees this week agreed to extend by another 24 months an ordinance that expired eight years ago and allowed construction of 48 total units.
“They have committed to exactly follow the plans,” said Staci Hulseberg, the village's planning and development director. “We've made it absolutely clear to them that if they deviate in any way, we will stop the project. They will have to go back before the commissions and then back to the village board.”
The original developer, Kipling Homes, intended to build four condo buildings, each with a dozen units, on a roughly 5-acre site that the then-board annexed into Glen Ellyn. But only two buildings were finished.
Shakir plans to construct the final two condo buildings on the western edge of the property.
If crews damage existing common areas, the developer would have to make repairs, Hulseberg said.
Catherine Buck, president of Georgetown by the River homeowners association, urged the developer to conform with the existing condos.
“We want to work together with this purchaser. We want to get this done,” Buck told trustees. “But is it better than a grassy field if it's not done well?”
Sales of the units took a hit in the housing market crash. Five units were sold in 2008 at an average price of $214,000, Buck said. Last year, one unit sold for about $130,000.
The new developer approached the homeowner association about building the remaining 24 units about two months ago, Buck said.
“We really, really want this development to be an attraction,” Buck said. “We want it to be completed also. We don't want to see another start and have a building incomplete because of lack of due diligence (and) understanding of the market out there.”