An idea to consider building a parking deck at Nichols Library in downtown Naperville — which first took shape nearly 20 years ago — is back.
The potential 500-space garage is once again under discussion as business leaders look for ways to build up parking supply to match the popularity of downtown Naperville.
Nichols garage could help manage parking demand
A group of downtown advocates led by Katie Wood, executive director of the Downtown Naperville Alliance, and Steve Rubin, of the city’s Downtown Advisory Committee, is educating stakeholder groups this year about the importance of increasing parking availability.
Wood said the roughly 3,800 parking spaces available in downtown Naperville are not meeting the needs of a commercial core that sees an estimated 9.5 million total visits a year.
“We have far fewer spaces for the number of visitors that we have coming to downtown,” Wood said. “It’s the first thing we hear, all the time. We’re constantly trying to manage parking.”
‘Pretty positive’ early review from library board
Plans to build a parking deck at Nichols made it as far as the design stage in 2007 before being shelved during the Great Recession in 2008.
Designs called for a structure with 500 parking spaces, creating a net gain of 370 spots over the 130 currently available in the library’s surface lot. Building the garage in the late 2000s would have cost an estimated $18.9 million, city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said.
City leaders revived discussions of the potential garage in the late 2010s, and it’s come up a few more times since Dave Della Terza became executive director of Naperville Public Library in 2019, he said.
When advocates for a garage recently presented to the library board, Della Terza said the board was receptive.
“Overall, the tone was pretty positive,” Della Terza said. “It would add about 10% to the parking supply in downtown Naperville overall.”
Looking from the northwest side of the Nichols Library property at Jefferson Avenue and Eagle Street, this design image from 2007 shows how a parking deck could look there. Image courtesy: city of Naperville
Structure could help parking on west side of downtown
The city of Naperville’s capital improvement plan calls for updating existing parking deck plans in 2027, with construction potentially in 2028. That’s why downtown advocates are seeking feedback about the idea now, before 2027 budget discussions pick up later this year.
The original 2007 designs “would be a strong starting point because they were approved and vetted by a variety of groups, and it really was designed to fit harmoniously within the residential area,” Wood said.
A garage at Nichols also would complete a longstanding plan to have four parking decks to serve downtown Naperville — one at each point in the north, east, south and west sides.
“That really is by design so the interior stays very pedestrian-friendly,” Wood said.
Next steps for potential Nichols parking deck
If plans for a Nichols parking deck move forward, the city first would refine original designs and finalize a cost estimate.
“Inflating to today’s dollars, $32 million to $36 million is a reasonable estimate,” LaCloche said. “However, we will not be able to provide a refined estimate of cost until we hire a new consultant to update the original design to reflect current building codes and market conditions.”
If construction is approved, Della Terza said the library would find ways to adjust for roughly a year of decreased access to its existing lot. The proposed three-story deck already is designed to work around necessities such as the book drop and loading dock.
“If this moves forward, there will be more discussions about what will we do during construction and how does this affect our entrances,” Della Terza said.
Featured image courtesy: City of Naperville (note, design rendering is from 2007)
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