The Aurora City Council has approved a $100,000 option to purchase two lots along Lake Street, just north of New York Street downtown.
Buying the option will give the city one year to decide if it wants to pay the rest of the overall $1.3 million price negotiated between the city and the property owner.
The council’s action on Tuesday night locks in that price for a year. The properties are at 201 N. Lake St. and 213 N. Lake St.
City economic development officials said recently the parcels are in a key area the city has planned for what it calls the Riverfront North District, a mixed-use area made up of housing, stores, entertainment venues and restaurants.
City officials said the property owner was asking $1.5 million for the property, and had an offer from a not-for-profit organization to buy the land at that price. The not-for-profit went so far as to have a preliminary meeting with city officials about the use for the property, which would have included transitional, halfway house type of housing.
That is what prompted city officials to begin looking at the possible purchase of the property. City officials said transitional housing would not be in keeping with the city’s master plan for that property, or for the area.
The city had an appraisal of the property that showed it at $1.1 million, although the Aurora Township Assessor’s Office has its assessed value much lower.
Ald. John Laesch, at large, said in the appraisal, comparable properties mentioned showed a much lower per square foot value than what the city would be paying.
“What we’re paying is a little more than what they’re worth,” Laesch said.
But Alex Alexandrou, the city’s chief management officer, said sometimes with strategic acquisitions, “you pay a little more.” He also pointed out that the approval by the council is only $100,000 for the option, not the purchase.
Other aldermen pointed out that the value of the property is what someone will pay, and someone was willing to pay $1.5 million for it.
“It’s worth what people will pay for it,” said Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward.
The property is in the block next door to a block the city has already purchased that has the former West Suburban Bank building. City officials recently floated a plan to build a 4,000-seat theater and event center on that property, to be controlled by the Aurora Civic Center Authority.
The theater is part of a three-phase plan designed to put the authority on solid financial footing, and move it into the future.
While aldermen have approved the first phase of the plan, they have not yet voted on whether or not to build the theater itself, called the City of Lights Center.
City officials have said the purchase of the Lake Street properties and the City of Lights project are not necessarily connected. While the property could end up part of the City of Lights Center project, that still is up to the City Council at a future date.
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