The Aurora City Council on Tuesday is set to consider a development with 220 townhouses proposed for a site across the street from Marmion Academy in Aurora.
The 220 townhouses proposed for the development would be split across 43 buildings, according to a presentation by Aurora Senior Planner Jill Morgan at a meeting of the Aurora City Council’s Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee on Feb. 26.
She said the 43 buildings would include two-story “traditional” townhouse buildings and three-story “urban” townhouse buildings.
The project is proposed for currently empty land across South Raddant Road from Marmion Academy’s sports fields.
Mesa Lane, which connects to Kirk Road, would be extended as a part of the project to connect through the project to Raddant Road, curving to connect at Raddant Road’s existing intersection with Marmion Academy Drive, Morgan said.
The development, which would be called Abbey Meadows, is being proposed by Lennar Homes.
Kathleen West, an attorney with the law firm representing Lennar Homes, said at the Feb. 26 committee meeting that the developer is the largest in the Chicago area and recently completed the Liberty Meadows townhouse development in Aurora.
All of the townhouses would be three-bedroom, and each is expected to have a two-car garage as well as a driveway with enough space to park two additional cars, according to West. She said there would also be 40 guest spaces scattered throughout the development.
Of the development’s 43 buildings, 20 are proposed to be two-story “traditional” townhouse buildings while the other 23 would be the three-story “urban” townhouse buildings, West’s presentation showed.
The two-story traditional townhouses would be between 17,000 and 18,400 square feet and will likely cost around $400,000 to buy, according to Tim Kellogg of Templeton Property Consultants, who also represented Lennar at the Feb. 26 meeting.
The three-story urban townhouses would be more expensive, with a price range of around $445,000, Kellogg said at the meeting. But, his presentation showed that they would also be up to 2,221 square feet, depending on the model.
The development is expected to have a cap on the number of units that can be rented out at 30%, Kellogg said.
The nearly 32-acre development would have two dedicated open spaces, one that is simply an open park area and another with a playground and a gazebo, West said.
A landscaped stormwater retention pond is expected to separate the townhouse development from the nearby Kirkland Farms neighborhood, according to Kellogg. Plans also show a landscape buffer between this townhouse development and The Townhomes at Savannah Crossing.
Three items related to the project — two rezonings and the approval of a preliminary plan — are set to go before City Council on Tuesday for final approval.
All three items related to the project were placed on that meeting’s consent agenda, which is used for routine or non-controversial items that are all approved with one vote and without discussion instead of needing to vote on and talk about each individual item.
If approved, the project would look to break ground this spring or summer, with the first homes going up in the fall, according to Kellogg. He said the goal is to sell all of the homes within the next four years.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
