New construction added nearly $150 million in value to Yorkville over past year

The topography of Yorkville is in a shifting state. Capturing the altering landscape, the city’s planners presented a 2024 year-in-review presentation at the last Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

“The city anticipates several exciting developments in 2025, including residential build-outs, the groundbreaking of our first data center, and other large retail developments,” said Senior Planner David Hansen during the presentation. “The city is also looking to monitor future data center activity and its potential impacts on the community.”

Throughout the city in 2024, new construction added $149 million in value to the town. The contribution exceeds 2023’s construction value, which was $106 million in added value.

However, new housing slowed from last year’s record year, with 38% fewer housing starts compared to 2023. In 2024, there were 255 new housing starts, including 206 single-family and 48-multi family units.

Even with the dip, the community has seen a population boom over the past decade. Over the past 12 years, there’s been more than 2,500 new housing units throughout Yorkville’s expanding residential subdivisions.

Four of Yorkville’s subdivisions account for more than half of all the town’s new residential construction. In 2024, Grande Reserve expanded the most, featuring 80 new permits issued. Bristol Bay followed with 40 housing permits issued, and then Timber Ridge Estates with 16, and the Caledonia subdivision with 14 new housing permits.

Total permits issued fell 35% from last year, but that was to be expected as significant storms throughout 2023 resulted in a record number of roofing and siding permits issued.

In 2024, the city issued 1,462 permits, accumulating $3.2 million in city permit fees.

In 2024, 30 significant projects went through the Planning and Zoning Committee, an increase from 29 in 2023.

During his presentation, Hansen highlighted the progress made on several solar farms and numerous annexations and rezoning for data center manufacturing construction.

Hansen noted the CyrusOne data center campus, which will include nine massive data center buildings on 228 acres at the northeast corner of Faxon Road and Eldamain Road. The campus will be developed over 10-20 years with each building expected to generate about $1 million in tax revenue for the city once fully completed.

He said this development opened the door for other data center expansion along the Eldamain Road and Route 34 corridor. This includes the Kelaka and Hagemann Annexation project which involved rezoning 286 total acres to manufacturing to allow future data center developments.

Throughout the year, several residents voiced their opposition to data center developments near their residential areas, telling city council they would rather move away from Yorkville than live next to data center buildings. City Council increased the setbacks of data center buildings in proximity to residential areas, but moved forward despite resident opposition.

The town’s data center expansion showed no signs of slowing down during the meeting, with the Planning and Zoning Committee approving rezoning 53.7 acres to manufacturing for future data center use. The DMYF-Loftus, Malinski Yorkville Family, LLLP data center development plan is located at the north end of Faxon Road, and east of Beecher Road.

The committee also approved a special use and variance for the 20.3 acre Beecher Road Solar, LLC, solar farm, located on a 70-acre agricultural parcel north of Corneils Road, west of Beecher Road, and east of Route 47. Once completed, the solar array will generate 4.99-megawatts of solar power.

Hansen said this project reflects the significant Corneils Road Solar Farm approved in 2024, which will stretch across 31 acres and produce 5-megawatts of solar power. The project is located north of Corneils Road, east of Beecher Road, and west of Route 47.

The upcoming months are set to be busy ones for construction crews across Yorkville.

The Grande Reserve subdivision has 312 town homes planned in the area east of Kennedy Road and south of the BNSF railway. East of Tuscany Trail, another 164 townhomes are planned. North of Mill Road, 60 more residential duplexes have been approved.

Topping off all the city’s new construction, after originally postponing construction in 2024, Moda Homes has plans for 272 multi-family units in the Bristol Bay neighborhood.

While the project will add significant housing inventory for the town, the development is surely to be opposed by Yorkville School District 115 who has voiced opposition at several town hall meetings throughout the year to any new residential construction adding new students into the district.

The school district is facing significant capacity issues, with current classrooms unable to accommodate the area’s booming population. To partly remedy the situation, the school district has already approved constructing three temporary pole barn buildings, housing 12 total classrooms, costing the district $3 million.

The district is also having to cap the amount of students at each school and bus extra students to further away schools within the district to better balance out their limited classroom space.