Frank’s Employment

Mayor Don DeWitte and First Ward Alderman Dan Stellato were the featured - and quite entertaining - speakers at the August meeting of the Women’s Business Council.  Their annual presentation on what’s happening in the City of St. Charles conveyed lots of local news for business.  Highlights ahead!

1. The federal Cash for Clunkers program definitely brought a positive impact to the Fox Valley.  Mayor DeWitte had spoken with one local dealership celebrating a marked improvement over last summer’s business.  Last summer, the dealer had sold 30 cars for the period.  This summer, due to the CARS (Car Allowance Rebate System) initiative, they’d sold 150!  Good news for the dealer, for the local economy, and for the municipal tax base!
2. The City of St. Charles has received more than $900K from the stimulus package.  These monies have been used to fund infrastructure projects, especially the improvement of several intersections.  The administration is also working to secure other funds from the recovery stimulus that might provide low-income loans for developers involved with local projects.
3. The repair of the ground-level wall along the river by the municipal building turned out to be substantially more complicated than expected.  It turns out that the wall is integrally connected to the foundation of the municipal buildings.  So it wasn’t a simple re-mortaring as they’d originally thought.  Now expected to cost $4M.  But the main message from the Mayor and the Alderman was, “No, we’re not rebuilding the dam!”
4. City planners and the board are working on a redevelopment project for the former Applied Composites property.  This is just north of Dean/State Street, south of the UP railroad tracks, between 5th and 12th Streets on the near west side.  The proposed project would be residential, with both single-family dwellings and multi-tenant town homes.
5. City administrators were disappointed to learn that the brand new Cadillac dealership (at the corner of Main Street and Tyler Road on the east side) was adversely impacted by the dealership closings this summer.  That disappointment was compounded by the fact that this was a TIF project.  The good news is that one of the other St. Charles dealerships may move to this great location.  Mayor DeWitte named the business, but honestly I can’t recall the name!
6. The Mercedes dealership (just north of Main Street and Randall Road on the west side of town) has long had plans to build a new facility on the west side of Randall.  Their time frame is now more definite.  Will feature a state-of-the-art facility of German design.
7. Remember the old St Charles Mall site on the west side (adjacent to the Jewel store)?  The proposed redevelopment of this Shodeen property is called St. Charles Towne Centre.  There is still much negotiation ahead for this proposed project, including issues around population density.  It could involve an eight-story complex that centers around the very latest in urbanization approaches.  As Mayor DeWitte and Alderman Stellato presented it, such a reurbanization approach on this scale would be the first of its kind in greater metropolitan Chicago.  Plenty of potential to “put St. Charles on the national map” in terms of forward-thinking urbanization.  This approach attempts to reduce the amount of extended driving time for residents by making available all essential services within a short walking, biking, or reasonable driving distance.

Lots of good news concerning the First Street Redevelopment project, too.  The Taste on the Plaza event organized by the Downtown St. Charles Partnership to celebrate completion of the first phase was rained out in mid-August; now rescheduled for September 20th.  And they’re ready for rain or shine!  Hope to see you there!