The St. Charles Planning and Development Committee held a packed public meeting Monday evening to discuss redevelopment opportunities at the former police station site (211 N. Riverside Ave.)
It was the latest in a series of discussions – public and otherwise – about redeveloping the site that began after the Police Department moved into their new facility in September 2019.
The City Council heard presentations about two concepts – one from Frontier Development, who has invested in several downtown St. Charles projects recently, and one from Murphy Development. Both were chosen from four projects that were previously submitted.
Frontier Development
Key elements of Frontier’s proposal include:
- a six-story building and parking garage
- 107 residential units
- 4 restaurants
- 164 hotel rooms
- a spa/fitness center
- conference space
- 85,000-square-foot outdoor plaza
- two rooftop pools
- 750 lineal feet of public riverwalk.
The total price tag would be $150 million, with the city kicking in up to $20 million tax increment financing and revenue sharing financing.
Murphy Development
Murphy Development’s somewhat more modest proposal envisions:
- a five- to seven-story building
- 141 apartments
- a restaurant
- retail space.
The project would cost an estimated $60.5 million, which Murphy indicates is “immediately financeable” with no financing support from the city.
Residents appeared to look more favorably on the Murphy proposal, due primarily to it size, which seemed less disruptive both in terms of visuals and the impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
The Frontier proposal also received some pushback for its plan to include a hotel, the need for which one council member openly questioned.
The next discussion of the proposals will be at the Nov. 14 City Council Planning and Development Committee meeting.
Stay up to date with the latest info about the project on the city’s website at https://www.stcharlesil.gov/…/request-concepts-downtown….
