St. Charles is considering a 105-unit development project northwest of its downtown made up of single-family houses and townhomes, brought forward by national developer Pulte Homes.
The pitch is for the old Applied Composites site, on which a controversial development project called the Lexington Club received city approval more than a decade ago, but didn’t ultimately come about, according to the city.
The 27-acre property is northwest of downtown, north of Dean/State streets between 5th and 12th streets and south of the railroad tracks.
The proposal for the project, called Ninth Street Commons, is for 93 single-family lots, as well as 12 townhome units, with a roadway network connected to the existing neighborhood to the south, per the city. The land is currently zoned for residential use.
At the city’s Committee of the Whole meeting last week, St. Charles Director of Community Development Russell Colby said the project has been reviewed by the city’s Plan Commission, where it was supported, but received some suggestions about things like open space, incorporating pedestrian paths and landscape buffering, as well as support for including affordable units within the project.
The developer, however, has indicated that there would be at least a $3 million cost gap to providing affordable units, and that there is no opportunity to increase the project’s density and still have a primarily single-family home project, per a memo from the city. As a result, the developer is planning to pay the full fee-in-lieu amount to the city because it isn’t providing affordable units.
The developer is also seeking financial support from the city — set to be less than $3 million — to relocate existing electrical distribution lines on the property, but is planning to pay for all of the other development costs, per the city memo. St. Charles previously approved reimbursing more than $5 million in redevelopment costs for the 2013 project for the site that didn’t move forward.
At the Committee of the Whole meeting on May 4, Nick Peppers of Rosemont-based Storino, Ramello & Durkin, which is representing Pulte, called the area a “difficult site.” But, Peppers noted, the developer believes the plan fits within the city’s comprehensive plan, noting that it is an infill development and works with existing utilities and infrastructure.
Peppers also pointed out that Pulte is one of the largest home builders in the United States and has long been building in the Chicago area.
Also at the meeting, Matt Brolley of Pulte said the company is under contract to purchase the property, and plans to close on the land early next year. He said the townhomes are expected to start at $530,000, with the single-family homes starting at a little under $600,000.
The presentation was generally received positively by the City Council at the meeting, though a few council members raised questions about things like the lack of affordable housing, the relatively small number of townhomes and possible traffic issues in the area.
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