What's next for parking garage plans in downtown Glen Ellyn

Glen Ellyn trustees will start the new year considering plans to make the downtown Civic Center more of a municipal campus with a new parking garage, gathering spaces and a pedestrian walkway to Main Street.

The parking deck would replace a 75-stall surface lot behind the Civic Center and ease demand for parking in a downtown with a growing restaurant scene and a lengthy waitlist for commuter spots.

The five-level garage also would serve Innovation DuPage and another business development center operated by the College of DuPage, both of which have brought more than 1,200 visitors to the Civic Center since opening there in late May, officials say.

It would cost more than $16 million to build the village-owned garage south of the Civic Center.

Plan commissioners have endorsed the project in a 5-1 recommendation to the village board. Trustees will review the proposal on Jan. 13.

Here's a closer look at the plans:

Design

M.A. Mortenson Company, the project manager requesting zoning approvals on behalf of the village, has designed a parking garage with 277 stalls and a facade that resembles the look of the Civic Center, originally a junior high built in 1927.

Precast concrete and "thin" brick would mirror the Civic Center's Indiana Buff Limestone and brick building materials, according to planning documents.

Of the garage's five levels, one would be built below grade due to the sloping nature of the site. Plans also call for 10 additional surface lot spaces on the west side of the entrance ramp off Duane Street.

The Civic Center parking lot sits off the main drag, but the public pathway would connect the parking deck to Main Street businesses through what are now the vacant Shonkwiler real estate offices and a residential building to the east of that storefront. Those structures will be demolished to make way for the corridor and a gathering space with room for possible outdoor dining and art installations.

Officials also envision making improvements to the front lawn of the Civic Center as part of a final phase of the project, but haven't yet worked out the timeline.

"It's going to have a little bit more of a campus feel that's better interconnected and ties everything together," Village Manager Mark Franz said.

Next steps

Where will village employees and other Civic Center users park during construction? The village is looking to reach agreements with nearby businesses to accommodate drivers whose parking spots would be temporarily displaced by the project.

Officials also are talking with St. Petronille Parish leaders about using their parking spaces.

According to an initial timeline, construction of the parking deck is expected to take about nine months outside of utility work. Crews will have to relocate a sanitary sewer line that runs from an adjacent building under the Civic Center parking lot and bury existing ComEd lines.

"We're hoping that if we can get in the ground with utility work in March, that by February-ish of 2021 this will be done," Assistant Village Manager Bill Holmer said.

The village also is trying to solidify temporary construction and permanent easements from neighboring property owners in order to make site improvements.

"We'd like to have that done before it goes before the board," Holmer said.

Funding

A new food and beverage tax that took effect last March will repay loans financing the parking garage and a downtown streetscape overhaul.