An Aurora City Council committee has recommended preliminary plans for a 246-unit apartment building officials said has been years, even decades, in the planning.
The Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee unanimously supported preliminary plans, as well as a conditional use planned development, for the roughly $70 million project by DAC Development, LLC. The new apartment building would between the east bank of the Fox River and North Broadway, between Jake’s Bagels and the Aurora Township building.
It would be the first all-new construction in downtown since the River Street Plaza in 2007, and Hollywood Casino in 1992 before that.
“I’m excited to see this,” said Ald. Michael Saville, 6th Ward, the committee chairman. “We’ve only been planning this for decades. I’m glad you found us and we found you.”
That mutual discovery took place more than two years ago, when Daniel Rezko, president and owner of DAC Developments, met David Dibo, Aurora’s economic development director. Rezko said it was a “long journey” to get the development plans where they are, but he said the developers were “captivated by Mayor (Richard) Irvin’s vision for downtown.”
“What we find so fascinating about the city of Aurora is there hasn’t been a lot of new development like this,” Rezko said. “And the Fox River. It’s just wanting to be activated.”
That’s what local officials thought, too, some 15 years ago, when the Seize the Future Plan anticipated development along the riverfront in that location, which the plan dubbed the Roundhouse Neighborhood.
The apartment building would have a courtyard swimming pool area that would include other amenities for residents.
Along the riverfront, the developers would create open space that would include some kind of park, along with bringing the Fox Valley Park District bike path through it.
Saville stressed that he hoped park benches and other appointments would coordinate with those approved for downtown by the FoxWalk Commission and Design Review Committee.
Ed Sieben, the city’s planning and zoning administrator, said it would be run through the Design Review Committee, even though the development is in what is called the Downtown Fringe, and not the downtown.
“Some of those amenities could be consistent,” Sieben said.
The development will have primarily studio and one-bedroom apartments, although some 40 units would be two- and three-bedroom apartments. The building would be five stories, with private balconies on about 45% of the units.
There would be 310 parking spaces in an inside parking garage that would be planned so people will park on the same level as their apartment unit. Alds. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, and Patty Smith, 8th Ward, said they were concerned if that was enough parking.
Sieben said the development also would have access to downtown parking lots and garages, and said because of the new pedestrian and bike bridge over the river, the public parking along the west bank of the river could be used, too.
Rezco said the parking is similar to what they have provided in developments in Wheeling and Des Plaines.
“We’ve spent a lot of time tracking parking from other developments, and we feel very comfortable with the ratio,” he said.
Ald. Sherman Jenkins, at large, said worrying about parking because there are more and more people downtown “is a great thing.”
“We’ll deal with it,” he said.
The City Council already has approved a redevelopment deal with DAC in which the city would give about $6.7 million in incentives as part of the project. One of the incentives would be creation of a new tax increment financing district on the property, which the city is in the midst of studying.
DAC Developments would commit about $11 million of its own equity into the project, and would secure about a $50 million loan.
According to the development agreement, the city would give DAC Developments a $963,000 forgivable loan up front and another about $2 million in 2022.
It also would commit to giving the developer 80% of money raised from the TIF district, up to $4 million.
City officials have said the city can commit up to $3 million of reserves toward the project, rather than increase debt for it.
