One of the city’s most passionate — and often disillusioned — cheerleaders is not ready to give up on Aurora.
Although David Karademas, who successfully renovated the Leland Tower and former Elks Club building renamed The Mayan, declared this summer he would no longer invest in downtown because of too many hurdles outside his control, the Milwaukee-based developer so deeply believes in this city’s potential, he’s willing to throw his name — and money — back out there in an effort to speed up the momentum needed for the community’s about-face.
“I can make it happen,” he insists, “but I need the help of the community.”
Joining him in this most recent effort is Cody Lorance, co-owner of Endiro Coffee, the New York Street bistro which, on Monday evening, hosted a town hall gathering with the goal of kick-starting a plan to help downtown Aurora reach its potential.
The event started out as a small gathering, but as word spread, so also did interest. More than 60 people crammed into Endiro’s basement lounge, a standing-room-only crowd that included a few aldermen and other city officials among the many business owners and those who simply love this community and want to see it bloom.
With Lorance acting as moderator, questions from the audience were posed to a three-member panel that included Karademas; Aurora Downtown outreach director Marissa Amoni; and Joel Frieders, co-founder of ELEMY, a business and property development firm that has renovated older buildings, including the host site.
It was a comfortable and fitting place for such a meeting, as Lorance explained to the diverse crowd that coffeehouses have a long history of producing “caffeinated change.”
“While pubs may be great places to forget problems,” he said, “coffeehouses are where you go to solve them.”
The problem that needed to be discussed is one that has perplexed city officials, investors and residents for decades: How to revitalize a downtown that, while it’s seen impressive improvements over the last five years, is at best still viewed as a diamond in the rough.
All three panelists said the growing enthusiasm and energy makes it “a great time for downtown,” as Amoni noted.
At the same time, Karademas noted, “I try to look at this from a business standpoint. If I had a factory, this town would have everything I would need except for a vibrant downtown.”
His frustration stems from the inability to capitalize on the success of the Paramount Theatre, which has become a regional destination point because of its acclaimed and award-winning Broadway Series. The theater was brought up multiple times during the evening, especially by Karademas, who sees the Paramount as a model of excellence that is bringing over 350,000 people a year into the community and “putting us on display.”
Karademas heralded the new arts center as the next big thing coming to downtown, describing it as “a potential catalyst if it can deliver with the same quality as the theater” because it will draw a younger demographic to downtown, especially during the day.
Kudos went out to other efforts, with Amoni singling out the successful First Fridays, a new vegan restaurant, the Fox Valley Music Foundation, and the Aurora Film Society; and Frieders noting that changes over recent years mean “all four corners” of downtown “are now mapped out for walking traffic.”
“We are finally at a place where we are hospitable to people with ideas,” he said, adding that we now need to figure out what it will take to get people to appreciate how much the downtown is changing.
All three panelists expressed frustration with the lack of support from local residents themselves who, as Frieders pointed out, tend to celebrate grand openings of businesses and then forget about them.
While Karademas agreed Aurorans are often their own worst enemy, he pointed out “we won’t have to cajole our friends to come down here” if we “do something incredible” that will make people want to come. And for him, it’s about offering a high-end destination restaurant “worthy of the Paramount.”
All of which takes money, of course, which brought up an interesting discussion about how hard it is to get it — particularly from local lenders.
In his business, Frieders said, he has more luck with banks outside Aurora who “understand we are going through regrowth” than those within the community who consider downtown a high risk venture.
Banks “will start coming when they start seeing results,” Karademas said. But in the meantime, there is plenty of money available, and he’s willing to kick in the first $1 million on a major project, with the hope that an organization like the Dunham Fund will offer another million “not as a grant but as an investment” and another big investor will add another million. That $3 million, he maintained, is “enough of a down payment” to gather other smaller investors.
“If you make it work, they will come,” he said, then threw out a plea to those in the room.
“We just have to take that next step.”
How that happens remains to be seen. That jam-packed room filled with Aurora fans was a great way to get an important dialogue going. But as was pointed out by several in the audience, what is needed is a small group of visionary leaders to map out a plan and then aggressively push it forward. After all, excitement and passion do not equal results.
Still, “this was very good,” said a woman sitting next to me who identified herself as an employee of a local lending institution. “I’m taking what I heard here (about loan issues) back to the bank.”
It was a good start, indeed. As Karademas pointed out: “All the parts are here. It is in our hands” to make it happen.
