The Aurora City Council on Tuesday night approved spending almost $6 million to buy seven properties along Bilter Road.
The land is along the north side of Bilter Road near Chicago Premium Outlets mall and across the street from properties the city bought several years ago.
City officials have said they are interested in assembling the land in the hopes of marketing it to a residential developer, in an effort to keep potential industrial uses out of what the city considers more of a residential area.
Officials have said an industrial user was interested in the properties, and would generate too much truck traffic for the area.
The projected cost of purchasing the properties, according to contracts already on the properties, would be about $5.7 million. The vote this week would have the city use Invest Aurora, the city’s not-for-profit economic development partner, to buy the properties.
After the properties are purchased, officials have said the city would develop a request for qualifications for residential developers.
The properties are across Bilter Road, to the north, of eight Bilter Road properties the city purchased in 2019. According to economic development officials, the city purchased those properties for $4.50 a square foot, and they are now worth $10 a square foot.
On Dec. 13, 2023, a request for qualifications was published on the city’s website and distributed to developers for a sports-oriented and complimenting residential development on those original properties the city purchased in 2019.
According to economic development officials, the city has interviewed several qualified applicants and will soon make a recommendation for those eight properties.
According to a memorandum on the new purchase, city staff envisions a development of about 150 units for the seven properties the council voted to buy this week. The vote on the purchase was 10-1, with Ald. John Laesch, at large, the lone no vote.
The memo added that the city would anticipate being able to choose a developer by Oct. 15, and that the development could be underway as soon as the spring of 2025.
slord@tribpub.com
