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Daily Herald
August 23, 2021
By Katlyn Smith
Elle Withall lives for the kind of moments that happened after "Frida Fridays" in downtown Wheaton.
At its busiest, the festival celebrating the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the College of DuPage brought some 5,000 people to the downtown. Mariachi bands serenaded crowds dining outdoors on Hale Street. Folklore dancers and Frida-inspired art added to the festive atmosphere.
When it was over, a 20-something and his friend came up to Withall, the head of the Downtown Wheaton Association, and had to share: "We've never seen anything like this in Wheaton."
"The best part of that is the businesses, what they gained from that, because we had people who weren't on Hale Street saying, 'I had record sales. I had a record night,'" Withall said. "And that's when you know you're doing a good job."
Withall is departing the downtown business group to accept a position in economic development in another suburb. She's offered to support a smooth transition for the DWA, now searching for a new leader to build on the momentum downtown.
"Elle was the right person at the right time for downtown Wheaton," said board President Tonya Parravano, who owns the floral shop Andrew's Garden with her husband. "She was not afraid to be creative and take quick action to help sustain the existing businesses, and at the same time she focused on bringing new businesses to downtown Wheaton - even during a pandemic."
Withall had only been on the job for two months when the pandemic hit. She would spend the rest of her tenure helping businesses do more than survive.
"We were in the trenches together," Withall said. "That was a life-altering experience that so many people did not ever expect to go through, and we were in it every single day together for a year and a half, and we're still now coming out of it."
During lockdowns, Withall started a Facebook group so that businesses and their customers could "communicate together when they couldn't be together." The "Wheaton Local" page has since turned into a community resource followed by nearly 8,000 people.
In May 2020, Withall worked with the city to close a stretch of Hale Street to traffic so outdoor dining could spill onto the road. That block is now an alfresco dining destination complete with live music and event sponsors.
Last year, Withall and her team had to adapt a roster of events to the COVID-19 era. She's now working to ensure "Nights of Lights" will return to Adams Park for the holidays.
"Wheaton has greatly benefitted from Elle Withall's hard work leading the Downtown Wheaton Association through an extraordinarily challenging time," Mayor Phil Suess said in a statement. "She and her team helped our downtown businesses make it through the pandemic with creativity and perseverance. Despite ever-changing circumstances caused by the pandemic, Elle worked in partnership with the city to help highlight downtown Wheaton as a thriving destination."
Withall never stopped recruiting businesses. Seven opened downtown despite the uncertainties of the pandemic. Amante Marketplace, a boutique of artisan-made lifestyle and home goods, is one of them.
Owner Samantha Raftery credited Withall for helping her find an ideal location on Hale Street, streamlining applications for Wheaton's downtown retail and facade grant programs, and working with the city to expedite permit approvals that allowed her to accelerate the store's opening.
"Without question, my dream of opening a brick-and-mortar retail store would not have come true without Elle Withall," Raftery wrote in a letter to the mayor earlier this month. "She is an asset to Wheaton, and she changed the trajectory of my life."
Withall said she'll miss those relationships, the support of the community that helped her through personal grief: In January, she lost her father to COVID-19.
"I was in this storm of COVID every single day with work, and then all of a sudden, it was my family became a statistic," she said. "That was a really, really hard time. It still is a hard time. But the community again came alongside me."
Withall knows her dad "would be really proud" of what she's accomplished.
"I feel that I'm leaving the town a little bit better," she said.
Tampa Bay Business Journal
November 1, 2024
By Alexis Muellner
The question: Leads generated at a state level have diminished in recent years. What are the 2025 business development strategies for 12 Tampa Bay area business development organizations?
As part of the 2024 Economic Development Issue dedicated to workforce development, 12 Tampa Bay economic development organizations were asked about strategy and planning and to share, as specifically as possible, their workforce development priorities.
Bartow Economic Development Council
Address: 510 N. Broadway Avenue, Bartow, FL 33830
Phone: (863) 331-5188
Contact: Bartowedc.com
Bartow actively fosters economic growth through new business incentives, including tax breaks and grants to attract investments in key sectors like medical technology and professional services.
Collaborations with local stakeholders, such as the Bartow Community Redevelopment Agency and Polk State College, enhance these initiatives.
To facilitate business expansion, the city is streamlining permitting processes and reducing bureaucratic delays, particularly in the logistics and distribution sectors.
A-C-T Environmental and Infrastructure is leading workforce training and development, offering programs in environmental compliance and technical skills to prepare a skilled workforce for industry demands. This commitment positions Bartow as a growing hub for health care and business, especially as newly built Assure Infusions ramps up production to address IV fluid shortages, ensuring health care providers have the necessary supplies.
With strong partnerships and a thriving housing market, Bartow is dedicated to becoming a leader in both economic and community health development, making it an attractive place for residents and businesses alike.
Workforce development priorities:
• Enhancing skill development: Partnering with local educational institutions to offer specialized training programs that align with industry needs, ensuring a skilled workforce ready to meet the demands of emerging sectors like advanced manufacturing and logistics.
• Attracting and retaining talent: Implementing competitive incentives such as signing bonuses, healthcare stipends, and career advancement opportunities to attract and retain top talent in critical sectors, including aerospace, aviation, and defense.
• Promoting inclusive growth: Fostering diversity and inclusion through targeted recruitment and community engagement initiatives, ensuring equitable opportunities for all residents to participate in the local economy, particularly in high technology and life sciences.
Neighborhood Tourist
Outside of the Box, Destination Dining
Winter 2020
By Melissa Rubalcaba Riske
When news broke that the governor was ordering restaurants to close their doors in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jean Suzuki called her dad, Chef Masato Suzuki and owner of D&J Bistro, located in the small strip mall off Lake Zurich’s bustling Rand Road. “I told him, you have to figure out a plan,” she says.
After more than 45 years of restaurant experiences, Chef Suzuki and his business partner, Stephane Goupil, found themselves facing an unprecedented set of problems. Would the Zagat-rated French cuisine restaurant — featured in print and on television, including the PBS show, “Check Please!” — survive the challenge?
The chef says his first concern was for his staff, most of whom have been with him at the restaurant for 25 years. “I cannot abandon them,” he says. “I have very committed employees.”
Like restaurant owners across the world, Suzuki found himself facing an incredible challenge: to keep his staff working, keep feeding customers and help the business survive the pandemic. “We decided we had to survive, but every day was very difficult and I didn’t know what was going to happen in our future,” Suzuki says.
Roughly 30 miles south, Elle Withall had been in her new role as executive director for the Downtown Wheaton Association for less than three months when the closures shut down the bustling downtown that includes 120 businesses. Suddenly she and her marketing and event coordinator were looking for any possible way to help businesses.
As each business struggled with its own pivot, Withall worked with the city of Wheaton to place a moratorium on permit fees and parking changes to designate spaces for curbside pickups. She sought approval to close Hale Street, located just off Main Street, and set up large tents to help restaurants maximize dining capacity with outdoor space.
The swift action and rallying of local business owners and leaders proved not only helpful to restaurants, but also retailers who saw an uptick in business with more visitors walking through the area. “As difficult as it has been, I really believe one of the better things has been to see the return of the downtown as a destination. We’ve become an example,” Withall says.
She’s even welcomed a new retailer and expects a new restaurant to open this year as well. But with winter looming, there was no time to rest on the success. “We looked at ski resorts for inspiration,” Withall says, noting how many operate outdoor cafes in the snow and cold. “We
felt it was imperative we try anything and everything to make it work.”
But it won’t be easy. Tents are helpful, but outdoor heaters require ventilation for safety. She found heaters that burn on diesel instead of the typical propane. This will allow for the tents to remain open on the sides for air movement while providing warmth for diners.
“We can make downtownWheaton into a winter wonderland and keep our downtown businesses in business,” Withall says. “We can’t make winter go away, so we will embrace it.”
In St. Charles, diners will continue to eat outdoors and maintain a view of the Fox River at Alter Brewing’s glass-walled patio. Ken Henricks, president of Alter Brewing, which also has a tap room in Downers Grove, says the special patio was designed to capture the panoramic view of the river. Along with heating elements, he hopes it will draw out diners even on cold winter evenings.
As a newer business, facing the pandemic hasn’t been easy, but Henricks says it has brought him and his neighboring restaurant businesses in the First Street Development together. “We have a lot of collaboration with our neighbors,” he says.
At D&J Bistro, the head chef’s daughter used her years of corporate experience to help her dad. She redesigned his website in just a few days, adding updates that included an online payment option and gift cards. She learned how to create a QR code for customers to have a touchless menu option. She even tried to help by gathering orders from her friends and neighbors and making weekly drives of more than two hours’ round trip from Chicago to Lake Zurich and back.
“Every little bit can make a difference,” Jean Suzuki says.
Loyal customers, who have grown to love the chef’s innovative dishes and beloved favorites, rallied their support for the 33-year-old restaurant. They bought gift cards and donated funds to allow the chef and his staff to make more than 900 Meals for Heroes to deliver to first responders. “It was incredible,” Jean Suzuki says. “It wasn’t about making money, but about keeping the staff busy and giving back to people.”
When the state allowed the return of dining with limited capacities in June, the team was ready, with outdoor tables in their parking lot and a covered tent. Knowing winter wasn’t far off, he bought outdoor heaters too.
Longtime customers filled up the tables and the chef, who reconnected with his favorite past-time of pickleball during nthe pandemic, has welcomed his court opponents to his restaurant as they see if his recipes are better than his serves. “I have been helped so much from my customers, from my friends,” Suzuki says.
It has been humbling to the chef, who, with his wife, emigrated from Japan in 1974, became U.S. citizens and raised their children in the community. He’s built a successful business making others happy with good food, inspired by the changing seasons and his staff who bring new flavors and ideas to his everchanging menu.
He says December is traditionally his busiest month; and while he knows he won’t see his typical income, he is already crafting ideas for New Year’s celebrations so guests can still raise a toast to a better year ahead.
“It will be as normal as much as we can, he says.
Aurora Beacon-News
May 3, 2023
By Steve Lord
The Aurora City Council is set to vote on almost $700,000 in grants to small businesses in the city.
Aldermen are expected to approve the money in the longstanding Finish Line Grant program, and the second year of the Re-Start Retention Grant program, at next week’s regular City Council meeting.
The meeting will start early, at 4 p.m. May 9 at City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place, because the swearing-in ceremonies for recently-elected City Council members will take place at 6 p.m. that evening at the Paramount Theatre on Galena Boulevard downtown.
In awarding and recommending the grants, city staff said they point to a business community that is recovering from the pandemic, and starting to invest in their businesses.
Finish Line grants are given to businesses based on what they spent to expand or fix up their buildings; Re-Start Retention grants are based on what the businesses lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Elle Withall, of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, said in 2022, the city gave out $285,000 in Finish Line grants, compared to $513,226 for 2023, a 55% increase. For the Re-Start Retention grants, the city is giving them out to 24 businesses for a total of $182,406, a 44% decrease from the $408,053 given out in 2022, she said.
“What we’re seeing is people are back in business, and want to spend more on their businesses,” she said.
While City Council approval is expected, based on comments made at this week’s Committee of the Whole meeting, there will be a smaller number of aldermen voting on the grant programs.
Three aldermen, as well as Mayor Richard Irvin, recused themselves from considering the grants this week based on either a personal or professional connection with businesses which may receive grants.
Alds. Sherman Jenkins and Ron Woerman, both at large, and Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, left the board floor during discussion of the grants, as did Irvin. They intend to leave the floor again at next week’s council meeting and not vote on the grants.
Withall said the process for grant application, as well as their approval, is based on “strict guidelines” for businesses to meet.
“You either meet the guidelines or you don’t, it’s as simple as that,” she said. “We take this very seriously. Our office has been diligent about vetting every single applicant.”
The Finish Line Grant program, which goes to businesses that have already spent money to fix up, remodel or expand, and so is a reimbursement, has been around for years, and is funded by money collected in taxes from Hollywood Casino.
The city has only recently begun administering the program; it was previously administered by Invest Aurora, the not-for-profit that is involved with the city’s economic development efforts.
Withall pointed out that the $513,226 in Finish Line awards represents about $2.5 million worth of investment into properties and businesses.
The Re-Start Retention Grant program was created to help businesses that lost money during the pandemic lockdown, and is in only its second year. Withall said the bulk of business seeking pandemic support “are still restaurant and retail-based.”
“They were hit hard,” she said.
The Re-Start Retention grants would be awarded to 24 companies that had to show financial proof of money lost due to the pandemic. The program allows grants of 50% of the losses, up to $10,000.
Withall said if a grant was turned down, it was because either the company got a grant already – the Re-Start Retention grants are one-time only – did not have the financial information to prove losses, or were home-based businesses, which are not eligible.
Withall said over the past seven months, in two grant cycles, the city has awarded $1.4 million to small businesses through the two grant programs.
“The reinvestment back into the community is what’s important,” she said.
Originally Published: May 3, 2023 at 5:49 PM CST
Aurora Beacon-News
March 4, 2023
By Steve Lord
Aurora is looking at redevelopment deals to bring more restaurants to downtown.
City Council members on the Finance Committee on Thursday endorsed two different deals, one to bring three restaurants into the first floor of the historic Hobbs Building at Galena Boulevard and River Street, and the other to add apartments to a building that already has a brewery under construction at 100 Cross St., between River and Lake streets.
The deals still need to be approved by the full City Council.
Both redevelopments would be done by JH Real Estate Partners, which owns 13 properties in downtown Aurora, and has redeveloped at least five of them.
The first would be a continuation of the work the company has done to redevelop the historic Hobbs Building at Galena and River.
The company rehabbed the building, which sat vacant in downtown Aurora for almost 40 years, into 31 apartment units, 29 of which are already leased, according to Harish Ananthapadmanabhan, one of the JH Real Estate partners. The other partner is Jay Punukollu.
They would bring in three restaurants to finish the first floor of the building, at 2, 6 and 12 N. River St.
The restaurant at 2 N. River St., the corner suite that includes two floors and 7,979 square feet, would be Leilani, an Asian fusion restaurant. The restaurant would feature up to 150 seats, and also have patio dining in an outdoor space planned for the west side, or the back, of the building. Opening would be planned for this summer.
The restaurant next door at 6 N. River St. would be La Ville Lumiere, a French restaurant with a seating capacity of 100 in 3,460 square feet, including some patio space on the east side, or River Street side, of the building. This restaurant would be developed by one of four master chefs in Illinois, one of 63 in the entire country, Ananthapadmanabhan said. It is planned to be open by the winter.
The restaurant at 12 N. River St., in 3,408 square feet, would be Buona Italia, an Italian restaurant which plans to open in the fall. It would also have about a 100-seat capacity and have patio dining to the north side of the building.
Eventually, there could be a banquet facility in the building’s basement shared by all three restaurants. Officials said the restaurants would feature lunch specials and menus, and have dinner menus in the $26 entree range.
Ananthapadmanabhan said he sees the restaurants as the next logical step in the redevelopment of the Hobbs Building.
“We are big believers in the potential of what we can bring to the table,” he said. “We’re proud of what we’ve been able to achieve.”
The entire project would be about $5 million, and according to the proposed deal, JH Partners would put in $2.6 million, and the city would loan the developers about $2.3 million in two loans. One of the loans would be a $1.3 million, second position loan at 5% for 13 years, and the other would be a $1 million forgivable loan, if the project finishes as the developers say it will.
City officials said that both JH Real Estate partners, and Ananthapadmanabhan and Punukollu personally, would guarantee the loans.
The residential part of the Hobbs project was about $13 million, with the city putting in a $1.5 million forgivable loan and developing a tax increment financing district on the property. JH Partners raised the rest of the money through private means.
Elle Withall, downtown specialist for the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, said development of “viable and competitive” restaurants attracts visitors and jobs.
A survey by the Aurora Civic Center Authority of patrons of the Paramount Theatre showed that about two-thirds of them dine somewhere else besides Aurora before and after shows.
When asked why, they answered that there is not enough variety of dining places downtown, Withall said.
“We want to capture that demand and we feel this is an opportunity to do just that,” she said.
She pointed out that it also dovetails with the increased residential spaces coming downtown. She said Aurora has almost 550 new apartment spaces either recently developed or in development during the next few years. A 2019 housing study identified the need for 2,500 residential spaces downtown, and she said the city “has started to fill that gap.”
“We find that people who live here, want to patronize here,” she said.
The development at 100 Cross St. would have JH Partners developing 15 apartments in the upper floors of a former warehouse building that has been empty for at least 20 years, officials said.
Right now, Foreign Exchange Brewery is developing a micro-brew pub in the first floor of the building. The 15,000-square-foot building was built in 1929.
The proposed $5.5 million deal would have JH Partners putting in $1.25 million in equity, getting a loan for $1.7 million and selling another $1.7 million in historic tax credits.
The city’s total commitment would be $375,000, with $300,000 going to the residential part of the development. The other $75,000 was committed to the Foreign Exchange part of the project.
The money would come in the form of a forgivable loan, and money raised from a tax increment financing district on the property.
Withall pointed out that the block the building is in “is getting a ton of interest” from both developers and property owners. It includes the former International Harvester building that was renovated into the successful Company 251 wedding destination venue.
“This is a great bookend for downtown,” Withall said.
Ananthapadmanabhan said the all concrete building could also include a rooftop element, too.
Officials hope to have the apartments open by spring 2024.
“Based on what we were able to do at Hobbs, we can do the same or better,” Ananthapadmanabhan said.
Originally Published: March 3, 2023 at 7:08 PM CST
Aurora Beacon-News
July 17, 2022
By Steve Lord
Aurora officials are considering a grant program to help retain businesses in the city.
The Re-Start Retention Grant Program would have $500,000 in it to start, designed to provide grants to businesses to stay afloat and thrive in Aurora.
The City Council Finance Committee unanimously recommended the program recently, which the full council will see at Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
Elle Withall, downtown development director in the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, told aldermen the program is designed to “aid in all locations of the city,” not just downtown.
“This may be very fluid, but this is for the next six months,” she said. “This came from talking to you (the aldermen), and you all have needs in your wards.”
The $500,000 for the program is coming from money left over from two funds originally designed for business relief from the coronavirus pandemic. One is the COVID Emergency Relief Fund, or CERF, which was developed by the city to help businesses during the pandemic, and the other is the federal American Rescue Plan Act, which included federal money granted to the city.
Withall said $230,000 will come from money left over in the CERF, and $270,000 will come from the federal ARPA money.
Businesses can get a maximum of $10,000, and have to be open at least 40 hours a week. Also, the business must have a brick and mortar store or office, Withall said.
The grants will be “one time only,” she said, but that could change in the future, she said.
Alex Alexandrou, Aurora’s chief management officer, said as early as 2023, staff could develop “a more robust retention program” designed to restore and keep businesses in town.
Eligibility for the program will be similar to what the city designed for the CERF program, Withall said. But she added the requirements can be adjusted as aldermen see fit.
One such adjustment was suggested by Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, who asked that dry cleaners be added to the list of eligible businesses.
The program is due to launch Aug. 1, after approval by the full City Council. Applications for grants should be in by Oct. 1, and the money is supposed to be spent by the end of the year.
Aldermen on the Finance Committee also recommended establishing the Finish Line Grant Program as a city entity. The office of Economic Development is taking it over from Invest Aurora, the city’s not-for-profit redevelopment arm, which previously administered it.
Invest Aurora would transfer $606,000 to the city to fund the program. That money comes from city tax increment financing districts one, three and five.
Finish Line grants are designed to plug a gap a development or business might have to finish either redevelopment or startup costs.
Minimum grants are at least $5,000, and the work must be finished and the business open within six months of getting the grant.
“The goal of the program is to open businesses,” Withall said.
Originally Published: July 15, 2022 at 5:00 PM CST
Aurora Beacon-News
May 1, 2023
By Steve Lord
Two city-sponsored grant programs indicate Aurora businesses are recovering from the pandemic and looking toward expansion, officials said.
That is the conclusion city staff drew from the 2023 Finish Line and Re-Start Retention grant programs.
Finish Line grants are given to businesses based on what they spent to expand or fix up their building. Re-Start Retention grants are based on what the business lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The difference between the 2022 programs and the 2023 programs shows a turnaround, according to Elle Withall, of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development.
In 2022, the city gave out $285,000 in Finish Line grants, compared to $513,226 for 2023, a 55% increase. For the Re-Start Retention grants, the city is giving them out to 24 business for a total of $182,406, a 44% decrease from the $408,053 given out in 2022.
Withall said that shows “that Aurora is recovering from the pandemic and open for business.”
Withall made her comments at a recent City Council Finance Committee meeting. Aldermen on the committee unanimously recommended both the Finish Line and Re-Start Retention grants. The entire council will consider them at Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
The Re-Start Retention grants would be awarded to 24 companies that had to show financial proof of money lost due to the pandemic. Withall said all the recipients met the criteria. The program allows grants of 50% of the losses, up to $10,000.
Withall said if a grant was turned down, it was because either the company got a grant already – the Re-Start Retention grants are one-time only – did not have the financial information to prove losses, or were home-based businesses, which are not eligible.
Originally Published: May 1, 2023 at 6:48 PM CST
Aurora Beacon-News
March 8, 2023
By Steve Lord
With the Aurora Municipal Airport as a backdrop, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin Tuesday night used his sixth State of the City address to carry forth the analogy that Aurora is a city taking off.
Titled “Aurora Ascending,” Irvin used the address to showcase past accomplishments and, as usual, announce some new initiatives, this year including the expansion of the Aurora Airport, a new private Boys and Girls Clubs of America building coming to town and an initiative to tie Aurora into a major Andy Warhol exhibition coming to the area this summer.
“You can’t stop us,” Irvin said. “You can’t hold us down; we are ascending.”
The Warhol event, known as Color Me Warhol, will tie in with a Warhol exhibition taking place between June 3 and Sept. 10 at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the McAninch Art Center at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.
The museum is hosting the Warhol exhibition which includes 94 works from Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop/Works from the Bank of America Collection on loan through Bank of America’s Art in our Communities program, and over 11,000 square feet of interactive experiences.
The audience stands as Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin is introduced for his State of the City address in a hangar at the Aurora Municipal Airport Tuesday.
The museum anticipates more than 150,000 visitors and Aurora officials want to capture those visitors to come to Aurora to extend their Warhol experience, according to Elle Withall, downtown specialist for the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development.
“Andy Warhol was a pop icon whose works brought people from all walks of life together,” she said. “He had a great quote: ‘I think everybody should like everybody,’ that really represents what Aurora stands for with its diverse and inclusive community.”
As part of the event, the museum is holding the DuPage Warhol Public Pop Art Challenge, where participating communities will select four famous or notable members to be presented on a Warhol mural in their hometown. Aurora selected Irvin, the city’s first African American mayor; Mary Lou Chapa, the first Hispanic Realtor in the city; Anna Li, a celebrated Olympian; and Tom Skilling, WGN-TV chief meteorologist, who grew up in Aurora.
The city will host Warhol events with live entertainment, art displays and more, officials said.
Irvin also announced that Revv Aviation would go forward with Take Off Aurora, a plan for a $10 million renovation and modernization of the Aurora Municipal Airport. Revv, previously known as Carver Aero, has already renovated the office headquarters it purchased from the former Lumanair at the airport, and built the new hangar where the State of the City address was held.
“We are taking the Aurora Airport to new heights,” Irvin said.
He said Revv officials are even looking at getting a U.S. Customs office at the airport, which would allow international flights to land there.
Irvin also announced that the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, which only recently entered Aurora, will build a 40,000-square-foot building in the city.
Some new things the mayor announced were actually old things coming back, such as the Fourth of July parade. The annual event was canceled during the coronavirus pandemic, and last year the city did a procession featuring veterans. But many people in the city wanted the parade back, and Irvin said it will come back in 2023.
An additional parade will be added celebrating St. Patrick’s Day to take place this Sunday.
Irvin spent most of the address touting past achievements during 2022, including 12 new businesses opened in downtown, 97 new business ribbon-cuttings throughout the city and the new apartments and restaurants coming to downtown.
He also mentioned the openings of Weston Bridges and Bardwell Residences in what was once the old Copley Hospital campus, and the inking of a deal that will move Hollywood Casino-Aurora to a new casino resort location to be built along Farnsworth Avenue, at the Interstate 88 exchange.
In all, Irvin said Aurora added $1 billion in equalized assessed value – going from $4 billion to $5 billion – since he became mayor in 2017.
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“The city’s tax rate was reduced by 16% because of the rise in EAV,” he said.
As always, an Irvin State of the City is a bit boosterism, and a bit theater. He finished the night bringing the City Council on stage, wearing pilot’s hats, to emphasize the upward direction he said the city is going.
“It isn’t perfect, we are not aiming for perfection,” he said. “We are striving for excellence.”
Originally Published: March 8, 2023 at 5:57 PM CST
Aurora Beacon-News
March 10, 2023
By Steve Lord
The Aurora City Council is set to vote Tuesday on a redevelopment agreement that would bring three new restaurants to downtown.
Council members also are set to vote on a separate redevelopment deal with the same developer to add 15 residential units to an historic building already being redeveloped at a second spot downtown.
The council, meeting as a Committee of the Whole March 7, gave its endorsement to the two deals with JH Real Estate Partners, a company that owns a number of properties downtown, including the historic Hobbs Building.
The company rehabbed that building, which sat vacant in downtown Aurora for almost 40 years, into 31 apartment units, 29 of which are already leased. There are three restaurant suites on the first floor of the building, and the three restaurants – an Asian fusion, a French and an Italian – would locate there, according to Harish Ananthapadmanabhan, one of the JH Real Estate partners. The other partner is Jay Punukollu.
The restaurants would be at 2, 6 and 12 N. River St. Ananthapadmanabhan told City Council members company officials see the situation as “taking matters into our own hands.”
“We always had this vision that downtown Aurora should be a destination,” he said. “This will bring more activity – not just from the Paramount, but also people from surrounding suburbs to come to our downtown.”
The restaurant at 2 N. River St., the corner suite that includes two floors and 7,979 square feet, would be Leilani, an Asian fusion restaurant. The restaurant would feature up to 150 seats, and also have patio dining in an outdoor space planned for the west side, or the back, of the building. Opening would be planned for this summer.
The restaurant next door at 6 N. River St. would be La Ville Lumiere, a French restaurant with a seating capacity of 100 in 3,460 square feet, including some patio space on the east side, or River Street side, of the building. This restaurant would be developed by one of four master chefs in Illinois, one of 63 in the entire country, Ananthapadmanabhan said. It is planned to be open by the winter.
The restaurant at 12 N. River St., in 3,408 square feet, would be Buona Italia, an Italian restaurant which plans to open in the fall. It would also have about a 100-seat capacity and have patio dining to the north side of the building.
Eventually, there could be a banquet facility in the building basement shared by all three restaurants. Officials said the restaurants will feature lunch specials and menus, and have dinner menus in the $26 entree range.
City officials see the restaurants as an extension of the vision of downtown Aurora as both a destination and a place to live.
“We’ve had many successes in our downtown,” said Elle Withall, downtown specialist in the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development. “We want to improve on that.”
The entire project would be about $5 million, and according to the proposed deal, JH Partners would put in $2.6 million, and the city would loan the developers about $2.3 million in two loans. One of the loans would be a $1.3 million, second position loan at 5% for 13 years, and the other would be a $1 million forgivable loan, if the project finishes as the developers say it will.
City officials said that both JH Real Estate partners, and Ananthapadmanabhan and Punukollu personally, would guarantee the loans.
The residential part of the Hobbs project was about $13 million, with the city putting in a $1.5 million forgivable loan and developing a tax increment financing district on the property. JH Partners raised the rest of the money through private means.
The development at 100 Cross St. would have JH Partners developing 15 apartments in the upper floors of a former warehouse building that has been empty for at least 20 years, officials said.
Right now, Foreign Exchange Brewery is developing a brewpub in the first floor of the building. The 15,000-square-foot building was built in 1929.
The proposed $5.5 million deal would have JH Partners putting in $1.25 million in equity, getting a loan for $1.7 million and selling another $1.7 million in historic tax credits.
The city’s total commitment would be $375,000, with $300,000 going to the residential part of the development. The other $75,000 was committed to the Foreign Exchange part of the project.
The money would come in the form of a forgivable loan, and money raised from a tax increment financing district on the property.
“So at the end of the day, the city would be out no money,” said Mayor Richard Irvin.
Withall has said the block the building is in “is getting a ton of interest” from both developers and property owners. It includes the former International Harvester building that was renovated into the successful Company 251 wedding destination venue.
Aurora has already done an inducement for a micro-tax increment financing district on the property, and Ald. Sherman Jenkins, at large, pointed out that in a TIF district, the developer has to create the increment before getting any of it.
“The only money involved is the increment,” said Irvin. “This money is created by their development. If they don’t create it, they don’t get it.”
City Council members placed the agreements on the consent agenda for Tuesday’s full City Council meeting, so they are likely to pass.
Originally Published: March 10, 2023 at 4:44 PM CST
Aurora Beacon-News
May 3, 2023
By Steve Lord
The Aurora City Council is set to vote on almost $700,000 in grants to small businesses in the city.
Aldermen are expected to approve the money in the longstanding Finish Line Grant program, and the second year of the Re-Start Retention Grant program, at next week’s regular City Council meeting.
The meeting will start early, at 4 p.m. May 9 at City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place, because the swearing-in ceremonies for recently-elected City Council members will take place at 6 p.m. that evening at the Paramount Theatre on Galena Boulevard downtown.
In awarding and recommending the grants, city staff said they point to a business community that is recovering from the pandemic, and starting to invest in their businesses.
Finish Line grants are given to businesses based on what they spent to expand or fix up their buildings; Re-Start Retention grants are based on what the businesses lost due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Elle Withall, of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, said in 2022, the city gave out $285,000 in Finish Line grants, compared to $513,226 for 2023, a 55% increase. For the Re-Start Retention grants, the city is giving them out to 24 businesses for a total of $182,406, a 44% decrease from the $408,053 given out in 2022, she said.
“What we’re seeing is people are back in business, and want to spend more on their businesses,” she said.
While City Council approval is expected, based on comments made at this week’s Committee of the Whole meeting, there will be a smaller number of aldermen voting on the grant programs.
Three aldermen, as well as Mayor Richard Irvin, recused themselves from considering the grants this week based on either a personal or professional connection with businesses which may receive grants.
Alds. Sherman Jenkins and Ron Woerman, both at large, and Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, left the board floor during discussion of the grants, as did Irvin. They intend to leave the floor again at next week’s council meeting and not vote on the grants.
Withall said the process for grant application, as well as their approval, is based on “strict guidelines” for businesses to meet.
“You either meet the guidelines or you don’t, it’s as simple as that,” she said. “We take this very seriously. Our office has been diligent about vetting every single applicant.”
The Finish Line Grant program, which goes to businesses that have already spent money to fix up, remodel or expand, and so is a reimbursement, has been around for years, and is funded by money collected in taxes from Hollywood Casino.
The city has only recently begun administering the program; it was previously administered by Invest Aurora, the not-for-profit that is involved with the city’s economic development efforts.
Withall pointed out that the $513,226 in Finish Line awards represents about $2.5 million worth of investment into properties and businesses.
The Re-Start Retention Grant program was created to help businesses that lost money during the pandemic lockdown, and is in only its second year. Withall said the bulk of business seeking pandemic support “are still restaurant and retail-based.”
“They were hit hard,” she said.
The Re-Start Retention grants would be awarded to 24 companies that had to show financial proof of money lost due to the pandemic. The program allows grants of 50% of the losses, up to $10,000.
Withall said if a grant was turned down, it was because either the company got a grant already – the Re-Start Retention grants are one-time only – did not have the financial information to prove losses, or were home-based businesses, which are not eligible.
Withall said over the past seven months, in two grant cycles, the city has awarded $1.4 million to small businesses through the two grant programs.
“The reinvestment back into the community is what’s important,” she said.
Originally Published: May 3, 2023 at 5:49 PM CST
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