On Tuesday, the Aurora City Council reportedly approved a deal 10-1 with a developer that would renovate the city-owned Elks Club building at 77 S. Stolp in downtown Aurora, which is the current home of the Aurora Election Commission.
The City of Aurora, which previously purchased the building in 1999 for $937,000 will "sell" the building to the developer for $850,000 and then give it back, including $550,000 upon certificate of occupancy for the building and the remaining over time.
The developer also plans to seek reimbursement for many expenses as part of the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district.
The developer, Steve Arwady, says he wants to renovate the upper three floors into 19 condos at a cost of $1.1 million of interior work. He says he will be doing another $1.1 million of exterior work and will have total costs of $3.4 million.
With the previous history of the building having a failed development, 4th Ward Alderman Rick Lawrence expressed concern about the city giving funds back to the developer regardless of any sales of units and without any recourse for the city to recoup its investment if the developer does not produce.
The first floor of the building would include a restaurant, but at Tuesday's City Council meeting, when the developer was reportedly asked about what the retail tenant would be investing into the deal, that information was not provided to the city council.
Bill Richards, Chairman of the Aurora Election Commission, also reportedly addressed the City Council and expressed concerns about relocating and that it was not clear how, when or where they would move to and they may or may not be able to exist with the developer.
The Aurora Election Commission, which has its own confusing existence as it serves 3 of 4 counties that have portions of Aurora, but is only funded by Kane County and the City of Aurora, could have up to 18 months to remain in the building. An art gallery and sales office for the 19 condo units are also being planned for the first floor if the project proceeds as the developer claims.
We encourage the City of Aurora to consider this opportunity to eliminate the Aurora Election Commission and instead allow the Kane County Clerk to select their own location for a satellite office in or near downtown Aurora if the Elks Club project proceeds.
The City of Aurora, which previously purchased the building in 1999 for $937,000 will "sell" the building to the developer for $850,000 and then give it back, including $550,000 upon certificate of occupancy for the building and the remaining over time.
The developer also plans to seek reimbursement for many expenses as part of the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district.
The developer, Steve Arwady, says he wants to renovate the upper three floors into 19 condos at a cost of $1.1 million of interior work. He says he will be doing another $1.1 million of exterior work and will have total costs of $3.4 million.
With the previous history of the building having a failed development, 4th Ward Alderman Rick Lawrence expressed concern about the city giving funds back to the developer regardless of any sales of units and without any recourse for the city to recoup its investment if the developer does not produce.
The first floor of the building would include a restaurant, but at Tuesday's City Council meeting, when the developer was reportedly asked about what the retail tenant would be investing into the deal, that information was not provided to the city council.
Bill Richards, Chairman of the Aurora Election Commission, also reportedly addressed the City Council and expressed concerns about relocating and that it was not clear how, when or where they would move to and they may or may not be able to exist with the developer.
The Aurora Election Commission, which has its own confusing existence as it serves 3 of 4 counties that have portions of Aurora, but is only funded by Kane County and the City of Aurora, could have up to 18 months to remain in the building. An art gallery and sales office for the 19 condo units are also being planned for the first floor if the project proceeds as the developer claims.
We encourage the City of Aurora to consider this opportunity to eliminate the Aurora Election Commission and instead allow the Kane County Clerk to select their own location for a satellite office in or near downtown Aurora if the Elks Club project proceeds.
14 comments:
This story stolen from the Beacon.
Hurrah! Someone took something from the Beacon - shows there's readership.
What's so scary is the content of the story - is it me or are there a lot of strange 'no-wins' for the state? Someone seems to be profiting heavily on tax payers funds.
Where the heck is the picket line screaming for the Council to stop with the irresponsible gov't spend?
With everything going in unattested, good luck to the Aurorians. You deserve to be under-served by your gov't reps because no-one is saying anything!
I think it's the other way around. Beacon may have stole this story from the blog, but once again, it shows the complete immaturity of the Beacon staff when they try to bash the blog. I'm surprised the Beacon even has computers to spend time on the blog.
This Elks Club project is an extremely bad deal for taxpayers and poor judgment by city officials.
When you add the $937,000 we already paid, plus the $850,000 we are giving away, plus the cost of moving all the things being stored, finding new location for the Aurora Election Commission and whatever it will cost at the new site AND all the TIF expenses that will go back to the developer, this "deal" will cost taxpayers MILLIONS and take 50 years to recoup our losses.
Where was Kifowit on all her claims of caring about the people's money or was that just campaign rhetoric?
Only in Aurora can they buy a building for $937,000, sell it for $850,000, then end up costing taxpayers millions.
The sooner this city starts bulldozing so-called historic buildings like this, the sooner the city can be transformed.
The best hope is for River Street with River Street Plaza, the new library, hotel and Waubonsee College. The west section of downtown is the key to Aurora's transformation. Without it, this city goes bust.
Election Commission should be ended instead of moved.
For you newcommers....this building has already been given to a favorite retired city worker and he couldn't make it with all your tax dollars..several have tried and lost their ass...the building is a physical mess and almost totally unable to be remodeled...that's why the ELks were so glad to dump it on the city. Its time the city get out of the realestate business or anything connected to it...look what that mess at the old Masonic temple has caused...more taxpayers money...look at the empty lot on broadway where a dimestore used to be ....more taxpayers money.....look at the mess on S Broadway where the old train station is ...mmore taxpayers money.....look at the empty lots where builders liscense was...more taxpayers money,look at all the money already poured in to the WHIZZ/Mundy memorial park....and on and on ad nausiam....its time to fire all the aldermen and mayor and take control of your money...There should be a law passed that there should be no taxpayers monies used for the purchase of realestate unless its for city offices or buildings. All this speculation by the rank amatures on the council at the urging of some shyster lawyer for a developer should stop.
Who on earth would live at the Elks Club building??? It's going to end up becoming another homeless shelter or low-income housing or rentals.
I seriously doubt this developer's numbers are accurate and I predict this will be yet another flop brought to us by Dave Dorgan.
Where the heck is the picket line screaming for the Council to stop with the irresponsible gov't spend?
Same place as they where at voting time, on there dead asses and didnt give a shit, now you have more of the same.
As was mentioned in another post, 5/27/09 1:39 PM, the election is over. The people wanted Weiser, and to keep spending, and to keep doing what he wants to do. Kifowit is giving the people what they want and a government they wanted. Weisner won by your words "in a landslide" thus the landslide of people are okay with this stuff. Just the crybaby, Lawrence lovers (all 12 of you) are bitchin on a blog.
Why are we developing anything. Nature will collapse those buildings. Aurora is landlocked, eventually developers with their mind toward upscale housing will move in and create a beautiful gated community that generates tax revenue at no cost to the taxpayer. The city has no business in this process period. Waubonsee does not generate tax revenue, a library is another waste of money. That river is an asset that would be developed at no cost to the taxpayer now that the cheap farm land for development is gone. This cycle has been repeated many times. Once all the land is developed tear downs happen in the most dilapidated sections. If the government stopped batching downtown the transformation would occur quickly/
Where are the residents going to park?
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