New shops and restaurants, pickleball, a tenant for a long-vacant former Dominicks, and an eye on developing the I-88 corridor were all covered during the 2024 Naperville State of the Real Estate event hosted on Wednesday by the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.
This was Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli’s first time hosting the event and Naperville Development Partnership President Christine Jeffries’s last time, prior to her retirement.
Naperville second-largest in state in retail sales
Wehrli spoke on Naperville having the second-largest retail sales in Illinois, according to the Melaniphy & Associates 2023 Retail Sales Report.
“Chicago [had] $36 billion in total sales tax revenue in 2022. Naperville [had] $4.5 billion and Schaumburg [had] $600 million behind us. Now, one big difference between Schaumburg and Naperville, we don’t have Woodfield Mall. So, we’re doing this without any sort of formal mall in our community,” said Wehrli.
He added why retail sales are important to the community.
“Retail sales tax up, property tax goes down. When you have alternative revenue sources that are thriving, you can drive down your local real estate taxes,” said Wehrli.
New businesses coming to downtown Naperville
Wehrli and Jeffries announced new businesses coming downtown.
AltaVida will feature three distinct floors offering dining, drinking, and dancing, inspired by many Spanish-speaking countries. It’s taking the place of The Craftsman at 16 West Jefferson Ave.
Lotus Banh Mi is a Vietnamese concept restaurant with 5 locations in the Chicagoland area. It’s moving into 206 South Washington Street later this year.
Ichiddo Ramen is a Japanese restaurant that will be at 204 South Washington Street, right next to Lotus Banh Mi. An opening is also planned for later this year.
Main Street Promenade is getting two new retailers with Kendra Scott jewelry store and Everything But Water swimming wear being added alongside the other shops.
Wehrli also spoke on the River Main building on the northeast corner of Water and Main Street.
“Hopefully it will be coming soon. I know they are in a pre-leasing phase right now. That will be a combination of retail and office spaces,” said Wehrli.
He also addressed the Washington Street Bridge construction, adding that it’s an Illinois Department of Transportation contract, which the city has minimal input.
“They know this is a priority for Naperville. We are doing our best to get this project open, resolved, and completed by the end of this year,” said Wehrli.
Interest in Barnes and Noble space
Addressing the exit of Barnes and Noble, Wehrli said there is already interest in the first and second floors, which may lead to the building getting divided into two separate spaces.
“It is a premier location in downtown Naperville. I expect you will see something very exciting announced there soon,” said Wehrli.
He also commented on community concerns about the exit.
“Remember, every time we lose a place down there, yes, it’s sad, but if we’re not changing, we’re dying. There has to be new stuff for people to come down and see. That’s what makes a community thrive,” said Wehrli.
A flood of new businesses coming to Route 59 corridor
Block 59, the northeast quarter of Route 59 and Aurora Ave., will “be one of the premier new projects in Naperville in 2024 and 2025.” according to Wehrli.
The Cheesecake Factory, Stan’s Donuts, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, CAVA, Walter E. Smithe Furniture, First Watch, and Shake Shack already have pre-leasing agreements in the area.
“There will be an entertainment area behind some of these restaurants where they want to have year-long concert series. So you can go out on the patio of some of these restaurants, go into this common area where there will be opportunities for entertainment and music,” said Wehrli.
The Route 59 corridor primarily houses Indian Prairie School District 204 homes. Wehrli added why this project is important to IPSD 204 families.
“Commercial development is what District 204 desperately desires to make sure commercial revenues help support those revenues on the school district side,” said Wehrli. “District 204 desperately needs this new revenue source and they’re going to get it.”
Filling in the empty Dominick’s
The Dominick’s building at 1555 N Aurora Rd will be replaced by the grocery store 99 Ranch Market.
“It will meet a Japanese need throughout, bringing in a lot of bakeries and other shops that may have their first location in the United States. Most of them would have their first location in Illinois at a minimum,” said Jeffries.
Wehrli said the building was difficult to get.
“Dominick’s had a locked-in lease that the acquirer of Dominick’s decided to keep in place. We could not lease the space because they kept paying the rent on it for an empty grocery store. It was a tactical decision based on that acquisition, but now that that has expired, the new owners have committed to taking over the mall, investing a lot of money to bring it up to a great standard,” said Wehrli.
Additional new businesses
A new indoor pickleball facility, The Picklr, is set to open at the Fox River Commons at 740 Illinois Route 59 on March 23.
Lifetime Fitness is also coming to Route 59 by 103rd Street in the southwest corner.
“It will be the premier brand of Lifetime Fitness. There’s only one other premier brand in the area and that’s located at Oak Brook Mall. The difference being here, we will not have the rooftop pool, we will have the ground-level pool,” said Wehrli.
A likely new addition at 1200 E. Ogden Ave. is a 7 Brew drive-thru coffee shop. It received a positive recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission and is now going to the Naperville City Council for final consideration.
The empty Butera on Chicago Ave. is being replaced.
“That building will be coming down. Heinen’s grocery store will take over the entire place [and] they’re going to do a scrape and ground up,” said Wehrli.
Alongside that, the bank site by the Butera will become a McAlister’s Deli.
The YMCA space on Washington Street was also addressed.
“[It] has been sold to a private developer. That private developer has not revealed their plans to the city yet. It is being used as a laydown yard for a water and sewer pipe that is going to be part of the Washington Street replacement of those sewer lines that are failing,” said Wehrli.
Naperville is also getting a new car dealership with Napleton Porsche coming north of the Cadillac dealership on W. Ogden Ave.
I-88 east-west technical corridor
Focus on the I-88 office corridor of Naperville has been important to Wehrli since he became mayor. After he took office, city council modified the zoning ordinance to not allow warehouses to continue on the list of conditional uses.
“The idea here is every time we had any sort of vacancy in our office space in the office research industrial zoned areas, we were getting phone calls from folks who wanted to take down the buildings, take down the parking garages, and replace it all with distribution, warehouse, and third-party logistics companies,” said Wehrli.
Wehrli continues to prioritize the corridor.
“We’ve established the I-88 corridor committee. I have doubled down on our efforts to make sure that corridor remains one of the top destinations for world-class businesses from all over the place to come to Naperville,” said Wehrli.
Affordable housing concerns
Wehrli briefly touched on housing, noting Naperville’s increase in affordable homes, according to a report by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA).
“So when we started this program many years ago, In Naperville, I believe the number was about 6.5%. The last review by IHDA now shows that we are over 10.5%, so there has been significant progress made by the last several city councils, it’s taken a long time,” said Wehrli. “All that said, we continue to look at opportunities going forward and we’ll find the right sites.”
Commercial and economic growth in Naperville
The growth in businesses played a large role in Naperville’s economic growth. Wehrli said he is proud of the city’s work.
“The Chicagoland area just got voted one of the greatest places to do business in America again and that’s for a lot of different reasons. Naperville stands out amongst the Chicago metropolitan area,” said Wehrli.
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