1 million square feet of warehouses proposed in Geneva near DuPage Airport
Editor's note: This article has been revised to clarify where a potential Amazon site was proposed in 2021.
More than 1 million square feet of warehouse buildings could be built in a project in Geneva, near the DuPage Airport.
The Fox Valley Commerce Center would be constructed on the northwest corner of Geneva Drive and Kautz Road, west of the airport.
The plans - which also are labeled "Geneva Logistics Center" in some documents on the city's website - call for constructing four warehouses on 75 acres on the Hillwood-Weber Farm.
No tenant is listed in the plans. City spokesman Kevin Stahr said the developer, HIP VI Enterprises LLC, says it is a speculative development.
The buildings would have 234 loading docks and 146 trailer parking spaces, according to a traffic study. There would also be 1,404 car parking spaces.
HIP VI Enterprises is asking the city to annex the site, rezone it from farming to light industrial use, and approve a planned unit development.
The planning and zoning commission will conduct a hearing at 7 p.m. March 24 at Geneva City Hall, 22 S. First St. The site is north of the Lineage Logistics campus on Geneva Drive. Lineage's tenants include an On-Cor Frozen Foods plant.
To the north are several residential properties and the St. Charles Park District's East Side Sports Complex, and to the west is 35 acres of farmland. The city's comprehensive plan anticipates eventually having light industrial buildings constructed on that farmland, at Kirk Road and Division Street. Last year, another developer wanted to build a 278,074-square-foot building on that site, which was referred to as "Geneva Farms North." While the city did not officially name the proposed tenant for that building, there was an Amazon logo on some of the plan's documents.
Nearby residents protested the plan, worried about the effects of increased truck traffic. The plan was scuttled in October.
The city is also considering a plan by a different developer to build a 274,800-square-foot light industrial building on 19 acres at 33W300 Route 38, about a block west of Kautz. The planning and zoning commission has to review and vote on the site plan. That vote has not been scheduled yet.