Local Construction Round-Up 2021: What updates to expect in DeKalb County

Even with the setbacks across the board that came with the COVID-19 pandemic, projects throughout DeKalb County are moving ahead at the start of 2021.

Here are a few updates of some of those projects:

Facebook Data Center and Ferrara Distribution Center in DeKalb

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said recently the first phase of the Facebook data center is “well underway.” He wrote most of the underground infrastructure for water and sewer is installed, Gurler Road has been widened from Peace Road west to the Illinois Route 23 intersection – which will be signalized this year – and the first data hall is under construction.

“Facebook should complete phase one at the end of 2022,” Nicklas wrote Jan. 5 in an email.

Nicklas wrote the Ferrara distribution center has a temporary occupancy permit and the pack center next door is nearing completion.

Safe Passage in DeKalb

Nicklas said the DeKalb City Council unanimously approved a matching grant to help realign the neighborhood sewer for the new Safe Passage building. He said the City, the Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District and Safe Passage would pay equal shares and City Council also approved on Jan. 11 a resolution authorizing payment to reimburse the water reclamation district for their costs.

Nicklas said that, to his knowledge, no groundbreaking date has been set yet for the new Safe Passage building.

“The agency is in a fundraising mode just now,” Nicklas wrote.

The update comes after the City Council approved in December a rezoning that would allow the agency to build a two-story building on the former site of the now-demolished DeKalb Clinic building at 217 Franklin St. in DeKalb. Demolition began in November.

The Ongoing Pappas Developments in DeKalb

Nicklas said the DeKalb City Council recently approved the vacation of the alley at the former city hall property on South Fourth Street in DeKalb, opening the way for demolition when the weather warms up.

Known as Johann Executive Suites, the $7.5 million South Fourth Street development has already won City Council approval along with a $750,000 tax increment finance incentive, pending final approval of the architectural plans. The building was sold to Pappas for $600,000, with the caveat that it be demolished by Dec. 31 and completed by 2022.

Nicklas said Isaac Suites, 2675 Sycamore Road in DeKalb, is moving quickly and is enclosed against winter weather so interior work can keep moving.

“Isaac Suites is looking to an opening at mid-year this year,” Nicklas wrote.

Isaac Executive Suites was approved in June and lies outside of any TIF district boundaries with 59 one-bedroom units with shorter leases, about 9 months, for traveling professionals.

The Agora Tower project will resume as more moderate weather returns in the spring.

“Agora Tower should be completed in mid-2022,” Nicklas wrote.

Agora Tower – a $13.8 million project which was awarded $3 million in TIF funds from the city in June 2019 – is being built on the grounds of a now-demolished Mooney Car Dealership, which was formerly the oldest barbed wire factory in DeKalb, at the corner of North Fourth and Locust streets since 1881. Demolition began last November, and the $13.8 million project will take 2 1/2 years to complete. The four-story tower will feature 94 high-end apartment units with retail and office space on the first floor.

Plaza DeKalb, a four-story, mixed-use apartment complex at 203, 223, and 229 E. Lincoln Highway. The building’s ground level was expected to have a street-level Mediterranean specialty grocer, although nothing yet inhabits the space.

DeKalb County Nursing Home Expansion in DeKalb

DeKalb County Interim Administrator Gary Hanson wrote in a Jan. 5 email the $15 million nursing home expansion project still will be within that cost when everything is said and done.

Hanson said some work planned as part of the project was removed from the project because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At some point down the road, that work will hopefully be completed and those costs, given inflation and restart-up costs, may or may not fit into the remaining monies we have for the project,” Hanson wrote.

However, because the county saved a significant amount of money when it sold bonds for this project because of favorable bond and interest rates because of the pandemic, the county will have money in the nursing home capital budget to finish the project, Hanson wrote.

The expansion will include additional rooms, an activity center, an upgraded fire alarm system, a nursing call system, a larger chiller and a new boiler system, Hanson said. A 15,400-square-foot transitional care unit will add 18 rooms to the 83,000-square-foot facility.

Hanson said the last update he received was that the project should be finished by late January but the addition will still not be useable until the state of Illinois completes all their inspections and grants occupancy. He said the state inspections time frame is unknown and would take six to eight week even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hanson said the nursing home resident census is down right now, with the current count being 130 residents and capacity being 190. Right now, he said, the county has plenty of beds even without the addition.

“Of course, once a vaccine is widely available and some type of ‘normalcy’ returns, we expect our census to rise,” Hanson wrote. “And we will then look forward to the full use of the addition.”

Spider Tattooz, other businesses in Sycamore

Sycamore City Manager Brian Gregory said nothing’s been submitted to city officials about any update with World Famous Pizza or State Street Laundry following a fire significantly damaged the property in September. He said that would include any permits or applications or anything like that.

“Nothing that I’m aware of at this point,” Gregory said.

However, a special use permit for Spider Tattooz, a parlor formerly owned by late Fourth Ward alderman Rick “Spider” Kramer, was approved last week for 220 E. State St. in Sycamore.

Brian Fleetwood, who is slated to be the next owner of the shop, had said eventual renovations for the space are to be expected, since its previous use was a massage parlor. He had said he had no idea when the new shop’s opening date will be, since he hasn’t closed on the property ahead of the special use permit approval.

Gregory also said during a Jan. 4 City Council meeting this is time of year when city officials really start receiving phone calls about business opportunities.

“Some are tire kicking, others are interested in getting something going this spring and some are in some sort of a phase in process,” Gregory said. “So we’ve had a fair amount of calls coming in from all of the different sectors – so that’s encouraging.”

Gregory said that type of communication from interested businesses at this point has been pretty similar to what the city would see during a normal – or non-COVID-19 pandemic – year. He said he wasn’t sure how COVID-19 would have impacted development interest.

“I think interest is one thing – we’ll see what happens with permit activity and if those interests become actual development activity,” Gregory said. “But it’s some promising and encouraging news with the calls we’ve been fielding.”