Long-range visioning into a dormant series of parcels in an area of 5th Avenue within Naperville will get underway next month as a nonprofit organization comes into the community and brings together upwards of 100 people to discuss future possibilities for the high-profile site.
The parcels in question have been discussed for years, with a series of on-again, off-again talks about redevelopment efforts. The parcels are situated on a 13-acre site, which includes city-owned land near the 5th Avenue train station.
Urban Land Institute’s role in visioning process for 5th Avenue redevelopment
Last fall, the city council gave the green light to apply for a technical assistance panel study through the Urban Land Institute. In February, the city was notified the Urban Land Institute had accepted the application, and an agreement was inked in March.
With the granular details hammered out, Urban Land Institute representatives have set in motion a timeline for its visioning process, which will include facilitating a series of panels on June 10 and 11 within Naperville.
Details of the forthcoming process were shared with the city council at a meeting Tuesday, May 6.
A range of people are slated to serve on the panels within the community, including — but not limited to — residents, business and property owners, neighborhood groups, business associations, and members who had served on a prior 5th Avenue Steering Committee.
“We take a holistic approach to this process,” Jon Talty, chairman and CEO of Chicago-based OKW Architects, said of the Urban Land Institute’s work. Talty serves as an Urban Land Institute representative and has been a member of the organization for about three decades. He also will be facilitating the upcoming panel in Naperville.
“We bring together a variety of professionals … and together, we come up with actionable solutions to challenging pieces of real estate,” Talty said of the process.
An unbiased approach with no agenda
During the recent city council presentation, Talty and other Urban Land Institute representatives emphasized the organization is coming to Naperville with a fresh set of eyes and no preconceived agenda about the future possibilities for the 5th Avenue parcels.
“We’re unbiased,” Talty said. “We don’t bring an agenda to the table. We are a third-party that signs no-conflict agreements as a part of this process. As a result, I think we can bring before you solutions that have zero preconceived notions or agenda with our process.”
As part of its agreement with the city, Talty said the Urban Land Institute will return to Naperville after next month’s panel sessions.
“It’s important to know that it’s not a ‘one and done’ event either,” Talty said. “We don’t come in for a couple of days and then leave.”
Transparency and gathering as many voices into the process is at the heart of the Urban Land Institute’s mission, Talty indicated.
“We don’t do this in a vacuum,” he said. “We do this with the support and the input from business leaders, the political arena and residents of the city. It’s a collective effort.”
Naperville City Council gives its support to the process
At the May 6 meeting, the city council “received” the Urban Land Institute’s presentation as a sign of support for the process. Council members also approved a recommended stakeholder list for the upcoming panels.
During deliberations, Councilman Ian Holzhauer reflected on the latest effort to envision the possibilities ahead for the 5th Avenue parcels.
“I’ll just throw it out that I think it is an honor to have some of the greatest minds in the country coming together on this topic, in our community,” Holzhauer said.
He added, “I hope this does begin the process where the community does feel that sense of trust and understands the significance of (the Urban Land Institute) coming out. Hopefully we can move forward with something that is a generational project that we can be proud of.”
Urban Land Institute representatives plan to generate a full report, based on the stakeholder feedback, by this fall.
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