Geneva's former Duke & Lee's to become 60-unit apartment building

GENEVA – The Geneva City Council unanimously approved a site plan for a mixed-use building of 60 apartments, 63 off street parking spaces and more than 6,000 feet of commercial space at the former site of Duke and Lee’s auto repair.

The property, which is .77 of an acre, is located at the northeast corner of South Third Street and South First Street in Geneva.

The contract purchaser, an LLC created by developer Sumac Development Corporation in Chicago, proposes to build 54 one-bedroom apartments and six two-bedroom apartments.

Sumac and co-developer Jupiter have built similar apartment buildings in Oak Park, Evanston and Chicago, Sumac Vice President Ron Dean said at the Aug. 17 City Council meeting.

The Geneva apartments would cost $1,800 a month for a one-bedroom and $2,100 a month for a two-bedroom, Dean said.

“There is definitely a demand in Geneva for apartments,” Dean said.

The L-shaped building would have parking behind it and some tucked underneath the building, the rest would be open Community Development Director David DeGroot said.

Its entrance would be on First Street, and the retail space would wrap the corner of First and Third streets.

Dean said a convenience store or dry cleaners would be considered for the retail area of the development.

“A lot (of businesses) want to be on Third Street, but there’s not enough room,” Dean said. “Sixty households above provides instant customers.”

Dean said it would take a year or more to build the structure.

Normally, the city’s zoning requirement is 1.5 parking spaces for a one-bedroom unit and 1.8 for a two-bedroom unit.

DeGroot said Sumac did not request a variation on the 92 spaces that would be required because the most that could be asked for was a 20% discount, which would be 73 parking spaces.

“Which the developers still felt was excessive for a transit-oriented development,” DeGroot said.

Transit-oriented development are dense mixed-use developments typically located within walking distance of a train station – of which the former Duke and Lee’s property is.

Relying on a study done by Glen Ellyn last November, DeGroot said staff built on their study and got 27 responses from other communities which mirrored Geneva’s parking requirements.

However, 13 of the 27 cited specific requirements for transit-oriented development in their core downtowns, DeGroot said.

Information from the Regional Transportation Authority showed that a third of the parking spaces in those types of developments are unused. So requiring the city’s parking standards in this case would drive up the cost of the apartments by $5,000 to $10,000 per space or $25,000 to $50,000 per space in a structure, DeGroot said.

“If they have to build 29 additional spaces, they would need to be in a structure and would cost $725,000 minimum,” DeGroot said.

“It has a substantial impact on a development. And if it does not kill the deal, it certainly gets passed through to the end users, the renters,” DeGroot said. “It might not be enough to make it an affordable housing development, but it sure makes it more affordable.”

The Planning and Zoning Commission gave a unanimous recommendation for the developer’s request.

Aldermen approved the zoning text amendment in a 8-1 vote to allow Sumac to provide 63 parking spaces, with 2nd Ward Alderman Richard Marks casting the lone no vote.