After a couple year hiatus, we finally have a Naperville official sticking their neck out to try and move 5th Avenue along. At the last council meeting, McBroom received council support for his motion to direct staff to bring back ideas for 5th Avenue.
Yes that 5th Avenue.
The untapped development that is comprised of many acres of prized developable land which sits right on top of our train station.
The same land Naperville spent many millions of dollars to assemble after 20 years of trying.
The same land that carries such economic impact potential it could single handily drive down real estate tax bills while providing amenities for commuters and more affordable housing options for residents.
The City bungled the first go around with 5th Avenue. Foolishly handing over the process to unsophisticated NIMBYs who were often bent on torpedoing the development. Many of the residents opposed to 5th Avenue also opposed the Water Street development. What a loss that would have been.
City leaders need to lead and stop sitting on this massive opportunity out of fear of drawing the ire of a handful NIMBY antagonists. These residents in virtually every instance have zero expertise in development and they do not have the overall best interests of the City in mind when they oppose this development. This failed approach should not be tried again.
The City has been putting this development together for a quarter century now. Anyone that bought over there should have known this was coming. It is also noteworthy that a great many residents around this land want the development to move forward. Who wants to look at a giant concrete parking lot?
City officials, stop wasting this massive taxpayer asset and move this opportunity along. Also please move it along without pandering to the same naysayers who would have left us with dilapidated old vacant office buildings instead of the beautiful Water Street Hotel. The time for hiding from this is over.
The Watchdog applauds McBroom for pushing this discussion forward and for risking a little political heat to better our City. Hopefully McBroom’s colleagues follow his lead.
Hear, hear! Nailed it!
Yes, 5th Avenue needs to be developed. I support this 100%. Besides anything Thom Higgins is against, I’m for it.
I expect what Staff will come back after careful coaching from the new Bloomberg Certified and Harvard Trained City Executives is guidance that 5th Avenue’s highest and best use is as a massive refugee camp for South American prison reject migrants. That’s the proper utilization of new junior members in the Global Community. Just look at South Bend or Amsterdam to see what will happen with architecturally significant, last developable parcels. Soulless retail boxes that somehow manage to provide lots of ongoing income for the officials that supported that development, or massively overbuilt McMansion monstrosities for the 0.1% that race through the permit process without a thought to setback lines or keeping easements free.
Yay, that we have started the Small City Grifty Graft and Contributions for Influence Machine up again. Looking forward to whatever outrages against mankind Staff can come up with. Wonder if the brain trust behind Sector G is still around? Or maybe we can use it to build a stadium for a professional sportball team on the taxpayer’s back?
Watchdog and NNLF: I appreciate NNLF’s witticisms and style. And often agree with NNLF on substantive matters. But the time has come for NNLF to heed the general “no pseudonym” requirement. Watchdog, please put an end to this favored discretionary treatment and require all users to post real names.
Hear! Hear!
This type of favoritism adds nothing to the discussion that can’t just as easily be achieved without anonymity.
That’s assuming that you are in fact the REAL Bill McCormick posting this, which is not a safe assumption. As to the actual identity of NNLF, we are the collective voice of one small part of Naperville. We cannot be restricted to a single name- this is consensus, and as such- the real identity IS the NNLF, a body politic that speaks the pulse of the streets north of the tracks. And, just to break the fourth wall a bit- it was intentionally started to counter the bandwagon lynching of Scott Huber.
Let’s be honest about it- deep down in your political soul, late at night when you are contemplating the next boondoggle to waste our money on, you know that this Court needs a Jester. A Jester who can speak as the @Concerned Mom 7 NNLF, or @Local Business Manager 18 NNLF or @Retired County Deputy Sheriff 3 NNLF as the situation warrants. This voice is all of ours. And when our little tinpot Emperors on the City Council go outside with no damn clothes on, we are going to tell them. Create a destination for gun-related crime? We speak against it. Waste millions fighting optically impure battles over AirPod pilfering when we are already going to be on the hook for millions for chasing students off the top of the parking garage? It’s the Everyman on the northside. When our neighbors take themselves so seriously that they want to chase an unfortunate out of town for image sake? The Jester Signal goes out from the top of the Carillon and we spring into action, with wit and sharp jabs. If you need a name, you can call us North.
North, thank you for explaining ‘your’ multiple personalities. I thought this column was to have only one pseudonym, Watchdog. My options are to take up this issue with her/him/them, go away with my tail between my legs (which Bill McCormick wouldn’t often do), or take advantage of the anonymity apparently provided by Watchdog for any reason. (There’s no reason North couldn’t disaggregate into its component voices.)
No, Bill (the now accepted as most likely real after exhaustive research) McCormick- thank you. At a ten-minute stand up with several of my colleagues over our morning lattes, we enjoyed a good laugh from your comments. The NNLF voice is an actual real name. It is an aggregate of 1,147 residents/voters/social activists/parents/consumers/students/retirees/business owners/faded rock legends/and one card-carrying member of the screenwriters guild (currently unemployed). You don’t want 1,147 individual voices speaking all at once, it’s chaotic. We condense all that chaos and activism into one voice. Better brand management for our commentary.
Besides- as you and I have just proven, there is no mechanism to insure that the name being used is the actual human entity represented by that label. We can all change them every single time. I can post as BilI McCormick all day long, and nobody will ever know the difference. Instead we can stay true to the persona we present, with our ever-so outre username, and have a meaningful dialogue, or we can argue grammar. Both are fun.
Actually, the Watchdog page requires an email be provided. So, if you tried to post as Bill McCormick but did not provide the same email address Bill normally uses, then the WD would know you are not Bill and would not post your comments (or at least we hope the WD has the morals and ethics to not approve posting such a comment)
During new business at the end of the There have been numerous failed ideas/studies over the years, culminating in an extensive effort by a local developer that collapsed just before COVID in 2020, largely due to community opposition. That plan envisioned, among other things, an office tower and a significant parking garage for commuters/office workers on the Burlington lot.
Needless to say, Naperville dodged a bullet there, and I have to assume that any new proposal will not include either.
After considerable Council and staff discussion, staff was directed to “pencil out” some sort of roadmap that Council could discuss along with some ideas for suggested uses. TED Deputy Director Allison Laff made what I thought was the most perceptive comment of the night regarding the question of the “best use“ for the properties, commenting: “The definition of best use is up for discussion. Is best use what is most profitable, is best use meeting a community need, or is best use what makes the local residents happy? That is the problem we ran into last time. There was no definition of what we were trying to achieve.”
The prior effort with Ryan Companies was massive, exhausting, and ultimately a huge waste of staff and resident time. I have to believe that Council and staff have learned from that experience and have no desire to repeat it. One bright note is the current Council has three members who live nearby and were intimately involved with the prior effort.
Here’s hoping Council and staff come up with a concept of best use that we can all embrace. To keep up with this initiative, follow us here.
There have been numerous failed ideas/studies over the years, culminating in an extensive effort by a local developer that collapsed just before COVID in 2020, largely due to community opposition. That plan envisioned, among other things, an office tower and a significant parking garage for commuters/office workers on the Burlington lot.
Needless to say, Naperville dodged a bullet there, and I have to assume that any new proposal will not include either.
After considerable Council and staff discussion, staff was directed to “pencil out” some sort of roadmap that Council could discuss along with some ideas for suggested uses. TED Deputy Director Allison Laff made what I thought was the most perceptive comment of the night regarding the question of the “best use“ for the properties, commenting: “The definition of best use is up for discussion. Is best use what is most profitable, is best use meeting a community need, or is best use what makes the local residents happy? That is the problem we ran into last time. There was no definition of what we were trying to achieve.”
The prior effort with Ryan Companies was massive, exhausting, and ultimately a huge waste of staff and resident time. I have to believe that Council and staff have learned from that experience and have no desire to repeat it. One bright note is the current Council has three members who live nearby and were intimately involved with the prior effort.
Here’s hoping Council and staff come up with a concept of best use that we can all embrace. To keep up with this initiative, follow us here.
I will add that it is good to hear mcbroom speak up. He’s been quiet lately.
The problem was not so much the NIMBYs as it was the project’s overreaching. Trying to develop all of these properties at once, instead of developing each property individually, under an agreed upon set of objectives, resulted in too many communities in this area becoming involved, making consensus impossible.
The communities involved each had goals they wanted, and things they did not want, from this development that were mutually exclusive. This made it impossible to find common ground to build on.
Also, the knee-jerk way the selection process for the developer was handled undermined the project from the start by undermining resident confidence in how the city was managing this development.
The reality is that to make developing these properties economically practical and attractive to developers, this project needs to allow for buildings that are 6 or 7 stories high. In fact, all the original proposals by all the developers that applied for this project included buildings of these heights, including Ryan.
Yes!!! Fix it up. Naperville is an eyesore when compared to other train station areas along the route.