The developer of a multimillion-dollar hotel and retail project in the heart of ailing downtown Aurora has dropped his plans after months of testy relations with city officials.
Developer Joe Vantrese wanted to build a $100 million hotel with 300 rooms, a 14-story tower, shops and a parking structure with his development company, the Vanstrand Group. But talks with the city were rocky, as they have been before on negotiations on other projects, he said.
Ken Florey, the company’s attorney, said city staff members seemed eager to move forward with the project at a Jan. 29 meeting. “We can understand why they were really excited,” Florey said. “What we don’t understand is why it stopped.”
Mayor Tom Weisner said last week that the meetings stopped because the city was waiting for more information from the developer. That missing information was why he a Feb. 13 meeting canceled, he said.
But Vanstrand Group project manager Robert Allan contends it’s the city that hasn’t come forward with information. “I feel that the environment is not conducive for anyone to want to develop, not just us,” he said.
Weisner said the city still is interested but wants to wait until the Vanstrand Group makes more progress on its first two projects: River Street Plaza, which consists of two riverfront luxury condo buildings, and Bell/Gale business park. River Street Plaza, begun last spring, has 30 percent occupancy in its first building. One of the five proposed buildings in the Bell/Gale project has been completed.
“We want to reach a certain level of competency before we start talking about another project,” Weisner said.
Weisner also wants to wait until the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau releases results from a study on the feasibility of a full-service hotel, which are expected before the end of May.
While Vanstrand isn’t behind on the projects, the firm doesn’t have a lot of experience with large-scale residential and commercial projects, Weisner said.
Allan said he doesn’t think the city is holding up the latest project because of the experience issue. He noted the speed of the River Street project — less than a year from signing a development agreement to moving in residents.
Speed isn’t the issue, Weisner said, pointing out that the city doesn’t operate in a developer’s time frame.
The city would like to see both River Street buildings completed, full occupancy of Building One, and some occupancy of Building Two, as well as completion of the plaza and riverwalk. They also want to see more progress on the Bell/Gale site, he said.
Allan estimates the proposed hotel would bring in 500 new full- and part-time jobs and more retail, including a major bookstore. The group has purchased the Beacon News building on the project site.
Florey, also a Lombard trustee, said he’s surprised by the attitude toward such a large-scale project.
“It is just unusual for any municipality to turn down a project with so much promise and so much potential to improve the community,” he said.
Aurora Ald. Rick Lawrence, whose 4th Ward is the proposed site of the project, said he is angry that the administration hasn’t worked harder to make it happen. “The mayor’s inability to recognize the potential of this project proves that he is unable to do this job,” Lawrence said.
Allan said the lack of action could be retaliation for Vantrese raising concerns about the potential river contamination from the Shodeen development, a multiuse project on a brownfield across the Fox River.
Weisner denied that the matter was personal.
“Shodeen and the Vanstrand projects are two completely separate things,” he said.
To move forward with the project, the Vanstrand Group has asked that the city set up a $17.8 million to $22.2 million tax-increment financing district, a tool used to fund developments in areas where they might not otherwise occur.
“When someone wants subsidies, by a TIF or other means, we become a partner in the project,” said Weisner. “The business partner or investor who decides to partner may have certain criteria they want met.”
Florey said walking away was not a bluff for the sake of negotiations.
“We want to develop a hotel on that site; we continue to desire to do so, but we recognize that we aren’t going to bang our heads against the wall and let our property sit — we’re losing money,” Florey said.
