Deal for Yorkville Crossing OK'd with incentives

March 12, 2008
By Rowena Vergara Staff Writer

YORKVILLE -- Yorkville aldermen approved changes to a planned commercial and residential development Tuesday after one of Kendall County's biggest developers decided to sweeten the deal.

Developer Don Hamman has agreed to issue a check for more than $700,000 to the city of Yorkville to make up for a 7-acre regional park that was supposed to be included in an annexation agreement for Yorkville Crossing, Hamman's 242-acre development.

Hamman also agreed to revise the agreement so that it reflected 12,000-square-foot residential lots in areas that are zoned for residential. The proposed agreement showed residential lots that would not receive the same square footage.

Yorkville Crossings is a planned unit development at Route 34 and McHugh Road that was approved in July 2000, but has undergone many changes. The biggest commercial user of the land is Wal-Mart, which has plans for a Supercenter.

The amended agreement approved by the City Council will include a regional detention facility that would occupy 25 acres, as well as commercial, residential and office use. About 80 residential units have lots running from 10,000 to 12,000 square feet.

Further approval is still needed from the Illinois Department of Transportation for the project's road design, which could come in the next month. Officials are hoping for a groundbreaking on the Wal-Mart sometime this year.

In other news, two other commercial/residential developments could be on the way. Developer Annette Hattner, of Oswego, has proposed an 83-acre development of 58,000-square-feet of commercial space, 70 units of townhomes and 96 lots of single-family homes north of Route 47 and Walker Road.

Another developer, Jake Land Group of Plainfield, has applied for an annexation agreement to 52 acres at Route 71 and Route 126, not far from Edward Hospital's proposed health facilities. Jake Land wants to bring commercial and office development to the south side of Route 126. A conceptual plan listed a large grocery store, a bank, a gas station, a day care and some type of assisted-living facility.

Attorney Dan Kramer, who represented both Hattner and Jake Land Group at Tuesday's meeting, said interest in commercial development is high considering the circumstances of a struggling housing market.

The company's project also includes townhomes geared toward the baby boomers.

rvergara@scn1.com