Fidelity Brokerage Services, an investment services firm, has been granted a variance to occupy commercial space commonly designated for retail and restaurant use in Naperville’s downtown district, following a recent 7-2 vote from the city council.
Last month, Fidelity representatives went before the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission and unveiled the firm’s plan to occupy 2,437 square feet of first-floor space and a second floor office space at the former Barnes & Noble site at 47 E. Chicago Ave. Commissioners gave the proposal a favorable recommendation.
Naperville’s municipal code within the downtown corridor is structured in such a way that retail and restaurant uses are desired for ground-floor spaces. Currently, traditional retail banking operations, which is not a classification affixed to Fidelity, are also allowed and do not require a variance.
A blend of such tenants creates a walkable environment, advocates say, and it creates opportunities for businesses to feed off one another. Such businesses also provide a revenue stream to the city, by way of a retail sales tax.
Councilmembers share their concerns
Under city code, an investment services firm such as Fidelity would be allowed on upper levels of commercial buildings in the downtown district.
Councilman Ian Holzhauer, who cast one of the two dissenting votes when the final decision was made on Tuesday, Feb. 4, pointed to this scenario as he indicated he had “a laundry list of problems” with Fidelity’s proposal.
“I think this is very unfair to other businesses that are unable to get this kind of special favor,” Holzhauer said of Fidelity’s variance. “I think that it’s unfair competition.”
Councilwoman Jennifer Bruzan Taylor cast the other dissenting vote on the council. She serves as the council representative on the Downtown Naperville Alliance (DNA) and pointed out the organization’s board voted in opposition to the variance.
“I have thought about this over and over. I’ve had many discussions about this,” Taylor said. “I know that the downtown business owners are very much against this. The actual killer for me is the sign itself: ‘Fidelity Investments.’ To me that clearly shows that this is not any kind of retail banking.”
Space configuration brought into question
For their part, Fidelity representatives used the word “retail” in their pitch materials to city officials. Jon Bippert, branch manager of Fidelity’s current Naperville office in Freedom Commons, described the ground floor plans as a “vibrant hub for walk-in traffic.” He indicated the second floor will function as an investment center.
“From my office, which is located right next to the lobby currently, I observe a constant stream of clients coming in and out throughout the day to handle retail transactions,” Bippert said. “Our clients might come in to accomplish a simple task.”
Fidelity’s existing office in Freedom Commons, 1823 Freedom Drive, will close once it relocates to the downtown space.
Bippert and other Fidelity representatives have also argued the configuration of the sliver of the former Barnes & Noble space they are occupying on the ground floor would be difficult to lease out to a traditional retail or restaurant operation.
During council deliberations, Allison Laff, deputy director of the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department, was asked to weigh in on such an assertion.
“I can’t really speak to how the site would be marketed or if there would be interest,” Laff said, in response. “When we reviewed the variance request, based on some of the other benefits that have been mentioned, like the upstairs space and the petitioner’s indication that they will conduct customer activities on the first floor … it did lead us to recommend support of the proposed variance.”
‘They’re just putting up a billboard’
Several of the councilmembers who did cast votes in support of Fidelity’s variance said they did so with a certain degree of reservation because it does deviate from the overall goal of fostering an environment of restaurant and retail downtown.
“From my perspective … they’re just putting up a billboard,” Councilman Josh McBroom said. “This is not the old community bank where grandma comes in to renew a CD. These are major investment management firms.”
Councilman Patrick Kelly said he did not buy into the argument the space was too small to lease out to an eatery or retail shop.
“Really, the space is a decent size,” Kelly said. “It’s not enormous, but it’s really no smaller than many of our other retail or small quick-serve restaurants. I do think it could be something else that could generate sales tax.”
At Mayor Scott Wehrli’s urging, the council did add a few stipulations to the variance, including a requirement Fidelity have at least 45 employees on site and have personnel on the ground floor space at all times while the branch office is open, which will be 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
Fidelity’s variance petition has spurred a deeper discussion into the types of permissible businesses in the downtown corridor. During the “new business” portion of the Feb. 4 meeting agenda, Kelly proposed an ordinance that would amend city code and add retail banking to the list of businesses that would need a variance to take root downtown.
“We’ve got other prime quarters in the downtown that may redevelop one day,” Kelly said. “I think we wouldn’t want to see another situation like we had here.”
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