Developer aims to build senior living facility in Naperville

A developer wants to build a senior living facility near Route 59 in Naperville.

Representatives from Ryan Companies presented a proposal to the city's planning and zoning commission for a portion of a 6.2-acre parcel near the northeast corner of Route 59 and Audrey Avenue that's been a vacant field since the city annexed it roughly 25 years ago. The area is north of 75th Street and across Audrey Avenue from a Home Depot and Dick's Sporting Goods.

The developer aims to split the parcel into two lots, including one for the senior facility that would fill 4.6 acres. The remaining property, which fronts Route 59, has not been sold to Ryan Companies and isn't part of the project.

Russ Whitaker, an attorney from Rosanova & Whitaker representing Ryan Companies, went before the planning and zoning commission this week to request code variances to build the facility.

The commissioners gave the project a unanimous recommendation. American House, which runs 70 similar facilities in the Midwest, including ones in Oak Park and Plainfield, would operate the Naperville facility.

"We're proposing a combination of independent-living units, assisted-living units and memory-care units," Whitaker said, "kind of combined into a single building sharing services between those components."

Among the variances requested and recommended by the commissioners is a rezoning of the land from a shopping district to an office, commercial and institutional district. The project also received variance recommendations for the maximum height of the four-story building and variances for parking location, signage and fencing.

The proposal calls for 170 total units, including 79 for independent living, 63 for assisted living and 28 for memory care. Naperville officials approved of the location, saying it blends in well with the shopping to the south and townhouses to the north.

"I'm all about protecting business, commercial land ... but this has been vacant forever," Commissioner Mark Wright said. "It's a great use. It gets a building on the tax roll, and it doesn't overburden our schools over at (Indian Prairie Unit District 204)."