McHenry City Council approves 540-unit apartment complex

Brian Cunat hopes earth work will begin on the the 540-unit Residences of Fox Meadows apartment complex in McHenry before the end of the year.

The developer received a zoning amendment and preliminary site plan approval Tuesday from the McHenry City Council. Once fully built, the complex would include one- and two-bedroom apartments in 18 three-story buildings on the northeast corner of Veterans Parkway and Route 31.

One alderman, Andrew Glab, voted against the proposal, citing his concerns over potential traffic on both roads.

While the project “looks pretty good,” Glab said he had reservations about the Illinois Department of Transportation not requiring a traffic light prior to construction.

Ross Polerecky, the city’s community development director, said a traffic study for the site did not indicate the intersection would warrant additional lights. Once the development is approved and built, the city may be more successful at lobbying the state for a traffic light there.

A school sits next door, Polerecky said. With 40 to 50 school buses going in and out of the Alexander Leigh Center For Autism every day, that may encourage the state to consider a light at a later date.

“With increased traffic, that may get to state to say yes” Polerecky said.

Developer Cunat Inc. also agreed to pay for half the cost of a fence between the school and apartment complex.

According to Brian Cunat, the school was given a check for half the cost, which they can use either for the fence or another project.

As the proposed site is the “southern entrance to our city,” the developers were asked to install a berm rather than privacy fencing around the development, Polerecky said.

The site is higher than Route 31, Cunat told the council. With the berm in place, motorists or neighbors would likely only see the top floor of the buildings, adding that the berm will also be planted with greenery. With stacked limestone blocks breaking up sight lines, it would look similar to the Sun City development in Huntley.

“It will be the nicest apartment complex in McHenry by far,” Cunat said.

It also fills a demand in the city for rental units, Cunat said. Currently, Cunat-owned apartment buildings in the region are at nearly 100% occupancy with people calling daily looking for apartments to rent.

Plans are to build the first half of the development, about 270 units, in the next three years. Once those are under construction, they will determine whether to begin the second half immediately or wait to see what demand looks like, he said.

Once complete, the complex would be the city’s largest in terms of total units by far, officials said.

“This will really fulfill a need for workforce housing,” Cunat said.

The units will range from 700 square feet to 1,000 square feet in size, have washing machines and clothes dryers in each unit, and be pet-friendly, he said. Plans call for two parking spaces per apartment and enough garages for about a third of tenants. Those will be available to renters on a first-come, first-served basis and add $125 a month to the rent.

As a company, they have began using trash compactors rather than dumpsters at their complexes, Cunat said. The compactors help reduce or eliminate trash blowing out from units and make less mess for residents.

The units also alert the waste company when it is time for them to be emptied, unlike traditional dumpsters, he said.

Rents will run $1,330 for the smaller units and up to $2,000 a month for the larger, he said.