Wheaton City Council nixes plan to turn offices into apartments

Wheaton City Council members have rejected a proposal from a developer to turn office buildings into apartments at a high-profile intersection.

Developer Henry Che wanted to put eight rental units in each of the two redbrick buildings at the southwest corner of Main Street and Roosevelt Road. Che asked the city to rezone the property and issue a special-use permit to allow the offices to be converted into multifamily buildings.

The city council, however, denied the request in a 6-0 vote Monday night without any discussion.

Some nearby residents and members of the city's planning and zoning board had raised questions about the target market for the proposed apartments and a surplus of on-site parking. In their first look at the concept earlier this month, several council members echoed those concerns.

"It misses the spirit of what we're trying to do in the Roosevelt corridor," council member Scott Brown said. "I'm ambiguous as to the target audience for this type of development. I don't see this being a positive project for the city of Wheaton."

The city has outlined a new vision and land-use policy for a nearly two-mile section of Roosevelt Road. One of the city's goals is to minimize excess parking along the corridor - one of the most prominent commercial stretches in Wheaton.

The property at Roosevelt and Main now has 80 parking spaces. At a zoning board meeting in October, the developer presented a revised site plan that reduced the number of parking spots to 64.

Zoning code would only require 36 spaces. City planners suggested converting all excess parking - 28 spaces - into green space.

A representative for the developer said the 64 spaces were necessary for the project. All of the apartments would have included three bedrooms.

"To require the further reduction of parking and to convert it into green space makes the project economically unfeasible," said Mike Mallon, a real estate consultant.

But Mayor Phil Suess said, "We're not willing to proceed unless there is an adjustment in the parking."