When Mark Twain penned Huckleberry Finn, he romanticized about the lazy Mississippi River and the towns that had sprung up around it.
Today in Kane County, residents have looked to the Fox River and cities such as St. Charles for a modern version of the kind of natural environment Twain clearly loved. In spite of the growth that has brought more than 30,000 new residents to the city in the last 40 years, officials say initiatives in the city are geared toward keeping a small-town, homey feel.
“I’ve been here over 15 years, and everywhere I go I meet people who say they’ve always lived here,” said Robert Hupp, director of community development. “People here have a strong sense of place, with the river, the topography, the downtown, and the older residential areas. St. Charles is viewed as pleasant and safe, and there are a lot of interesting things to do here.”
While some towns struggle to attract residents and businesses, Mayor Susan Klinkhamer says that the lure of St. Charles is so great, it has to be protected.
“I’d like to see the projects we currently have underway be completed, and then step back for a while,” she said. “I don’t want the growth here to become overwhelming and affect what we have.”
Hupp credits the city’s strong park system and the high-profile schools, along with the river and natural areas, for attracting the growing number of residents.
Developers seem to agree. Currently, St. Charles boasts more than 40 ongoing commercial and residential property projects. According to community planner Dan Olson, a large concentration of development is west of the Fox River, in and around the area known as the West Gateway.
“The West Gateway area, located north of Route 38 and west of Randall Road, is half-owned by the Illinois Youth Center and the other half is developable,” Olson said. “The area also contains a lot of residents who aren’t living in incorporated St. Charles, but are still a part of the community.”
A variety of mixed-use housing projects, many of them more than 100 acres in size, are under construction.
One of the largest is the 164-acre Harvest Hills, a Town and Country Homes project planned for 302 single-family houses and 350 town homes.
Three or four single-family model homes are planned this fall, with sizes and prices yet to be determined, said Ed Fitch, executive vice president of marketing for Town and Country. Meanwhile, sales of the four original town home models have been steady and a fifth–the Mystique Hill, offering a main-floor master bedroom–has been added “because of the strength of the empty-nester buy-down market,” Fitch said. The Mystique Hill is priced at $167,995 with 1,768 square feet.
Current choices include the Prairie Smoke at 1,461 square feet, with two bedrooms, a loft, and 1 1/2 baths standard, plus a two-car garage. It is base-priced at $137,995.
A step up is the 1,638-square-foot Golden Plain for $146,995, with three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and two-car garage. The Savanna Blaze is base-priced at $156,995 and offers 1,779 square feet of space, including two bedrooms, a loft, 2 1/2 baths and a two-car garage.
Finally, the Meadow Breeze offers three bedrooms with 2 1/2 baths and a two-car garage. The 1,843-square-foot home is base-priced at $159,995.
Another ongoing project in the West Gateway area is Renaux Manor, with 255 single-family homes and 238 town homes planned, all to be built on a 167-acre parcel. Wiseman-Hughes Enterprises, of Wheaton, is builder and developer.
“Up until now, St. Charles had very few options in the scale-down market, with all the custom homes they’ve built,” said general sales manager Pam Schawel. “We offer the level of luxury (in the town homes) many residents are used to, even though people may be moving from a single-family home.”
Four town home models–the Anise, Cardamon, Henna and Bayberry–range in base price from $157,900 to $172,900 and in size from 1,636 to 1,803 square feet. The 1,689-square-foot Bayberry has a first-floor master bedroom.
Nancy Wahlke, sales manager for the single-family homes at Renaux, says more than 130 sites have been sold. Five models range in size from 1,927 to 2,667 square feet with base prices from $215,900 to $262,900.
The east side of the river continues to see growth, particularly around St. Charles’ major shopping center, the Charlestowne Mall.
An approved project the city calls Stuarts Crossing, located at East Main Street and Kirk Road, includes 152 town homes from Realen Homes, a 240,000-square-foot retail center and two bank facilities.
Across the street, AMLI, a development management company in Chicago, broke ground last year on a project that will have 400 rental apartments in 20 buildings of 20 units each. There also is a clubhouse.
A total of 204 one-bedroom, one-bath units will be offered, ranging in size from 694 to 1,002 square feet, with rents starting at $855. Twenty-four one-bedroom plus den units, at 993 square feet, rent for $1,175.
“We also have 160 two-bedroom, two-bath units planned that will be 1,145 to 1,237 square feet,” said AMLI associate Tracy Lee. “There’ll also be 12 two bedroom den units as well, from 1,425 to 1,542 square feet.”
Regular two-bedroom units will start at $1,375 per month; the two-bedroom with den is $1,650.
The clubhouse will offer a fitness center, billiards room and a media center. A 24-hour business center with computers and Internet access and a meeting room will also be available.
“Outside, we’ll have a pool and volleyball court and a resident garden center where residents can grow their own flowers or vegetables,” Lee said.
The first two buildings are finished and the entire project is scheduled for completion next summer.
Along with development to the east and west, downtown renovation has also received considerable attention. Hupp said efforts to restore it were clearly defined in the last comprehensive plan, approved in 1996.
“Our goals beyond the Gateway area were to coordinate land use with the park district and the county plan, and to concentrate on the downtown area,” Hupp said.
So far, $2.75 million has been pumped into the project to redo the Main Street streetscape, Hupp said. The Illinois Department of Transportation recently rebuilt the bridge and highway that crosses the Fox River on Main Street and the city added new brick paving and street lighting. A facade improvement program is funded at $150,000 a year.
“We also started a TIF (tax increment financing) district that was primarily used to facilitate rebuilding the Hotel Baker,” Hupp said. “It was first built in 1928 and used half the time as a hotel, and later on for senior living. Lutheran Social Services sold it, and $8 million was spent on making it into a 52-room hotel with a restaurant that was reopened in December, 1997.”
Though the Hotel Baker is no longer used for senior living, initiatives in other senior housing sites have grown in the last decade.
Klinkhamer said the movement toward increasing senior housing began about four years ago with the Carriage Oaks project. “That project started the ball rolling and our endorsement of the concept of senior living,” Klinkhamer said. “Hopefully our philosophy on housing includes a balance for every age group. We wanted people to stay here, whether they were 21 or 81.”
Current projects include the Delnor Assisted Living Center with 80 units; Carriage Oaks, a 71-unit senior housing project; Brighton Gardens, with 106 planned units offered through Marriott Senior Living; and the 120-bed Rosewood Care Center, which opened in May.
By 2020, St. Charles expects to reach just under 39,000 residents, about 10,000 more than it has today. In spite of those numbers, officials want the “hometown” environment to remain.
“Hometown is really the core of those who have always been here,” Hupp said. “We’ve had businesses here for generations, a good sound community, and we’re not interested in going beyond that line. We’re not a small town anymore, but we still have that feel. We have a lot of citizen input and focus groups — that’s a big thing. Part of our challenge in the future is to figure out how to get that conversation at the community level to continue and help us determine where we want to go.”
