Seventh Street Commons

The property is owned by WM St Charles, LLC. Since 2006, the property has been owned by different entities affiliated with the ownership of past developer, Lexington Homes.

The property is under contract to be acquired by Pulte Home Company, LLC.

WM St Charles, LLC provided an Owner Authorization letter consenting to Pulte Home Company, LLC submitting zoning applications for the property.

Pulte submitted complete zoning applications to the City in June 2026.

The City shares residents' desire for a safe and thorough remediation process. The property is a former industrial site and any redevelopment will require remediation consistent with Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) requirements for residential land use. While the City is not the regulatory authority overseeing cleanup activities, approval of a redevelopment project by the City creates a pathway for remediation that would otherwise not occur on a vacant private property.

Historically, the property had been utilized by various industrial manufacturing businesses since the early 1900s.

In 2025, the City contracted with AE3 Engineering to conduct a Phase 1 environmental assessment(PDF, 105MB). This report was prepared for the City in cooperation with the property owner. The report was to be utilized to seek grant funding for environmental remediation. AE3 did not complete a Phase 2 or any subsequent report for the City.

The project developer, Pulte, has engaged an environmental consultant, BBJ, to complete environmental reports on their behalf.

To initiate the process to remediate the site, Pulte will re-enroll the property in the IEPA Site Remediation Program. The program requires an applicant to submit environmental analysis of the property along with a proposed Remediation Plan for review and approval.  The plan will identify the methods to remove materials and remediate the property to a standard for residential land use per the EPA guidelines. At the conclusion of the remediation process, the IEPA will issue a “No Further Remediation” letter, or NFR, certifying that the property is suitable to residential development, subject to any conditions specified in the NFR approval letter.

Pulte has provided an Overview of the Proposed Site Cleanup(PDF, 527KB) prepared by BBJ Group. 

A traffic study(PDF, 14MB) was conducted by KLOA and submitted by the developer, Pulte. The traffic study was reviewed by the City’s traffic engineering consultant, Clark-Dietz. The consultant reviewed the study in detail and recommended revisions, which have been incorporated into the final study. The review consultant agrees with the traffic study findings and recommendations.

To model conditions for a traffic study, new traffic expected to be generated by the development is estimated based on data from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). The ITE data is an industry standard data source based on averages from actual studies of traffic generated by development projects. This data for “new” traffic is combined with existing traffic counts, plus expected background traffic growth, to model the function of the street network during peak times when the traffic volume is projected to be highest.

The results showed that the existing transportation network can accommodate new traffic generated from the development, with new vehicle trips expected to be distributed across four different public street connections to the site. These four access points provide routes to exit the neighborhood and reach arterial streets in multiple directions.

The traffic study showed minimal impact to the function of the nearby intersections along State and Dean St. Therefore, no traffic control changes are recommended based on the study findings. As the project is built out and traffic patterns change in the neighborhood, the City can monitor conditions at each intersection to determine if traffic meets an engineering standard for additional traffic control, such as the installation of a 4-way stop sign.

The study showed added delays at the 7^th and Main Street traffic signal, particularly the northbound approach. A recommendation was provided to reoptimize the traffic signal to add green time to the north and south approach. This requires evaluation and approval by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

There are no plans to restrict any on-street parking.

The project includes complete sidewalks within the development, on both sides of the streets. Off-site sidewalks will be added to complete connections to existing sidewalk networks along 6^th and 7^th Streets, completing a connection to the 7^th & Main signalized intersection. Sidewalks will extend from the site along 9^th Street to Belgium Town Park and connect with an east-west trail following the north side of State Street Creek. The trail along the creek will run from 12^th Street, to Belgium Town Park, and continues across 9^th street to 7^th and 6^th Streets. A trail section is also provided to the north for a connection to the former railroad right-of-way, to connect to a possible future regional trail.

The sidewalk and pedestrian improvements within the project are consistent with the recommendations of the City’s 2023 Bike and Pedestrian Plan. Note that the Bike and Pedestrian plan identifies a number of potential improvements within the area along State and Dean Streets- these are projects that involve neighborhood-wide improvements that would need to be designed and implemented by the City.

A construction access route will be designated for the heavy construction traffic associated with building demolition and grading of the property. Typically, the designated construction route is the shortest route from a nearby arterial street. The most direct route to the site is 9^th Street from Main St./Rt 64. For the previous development project approved for this site, 9^th Street was the approved construction route.

During the demolition and site work phase of the project development, City inspectors will monitor the condition of City streets during construction and document any damage. The City maintains a financial guarantee and insurance coverage from developers to cover the expense of damage to public infrastructure during construction.

The project landscape plan shows trees from an earlier tree survey and identifies those trees planned to be preserved.

Trees internal to the site will need to be removed during the site demolition and environmental remediation. These areas include extensive building foundations, pavement, and areas of fill materials. Other areas of the site will be graded to level the property for development and installation of stormwater detention basins.

Areas of trees to be preserved are located south of the State Street Creek. This includes an open area there that will not be developed along the east side of 9^th Street.

The landscape plans identify installation of 148 trees parkway trees along the public streets within the project site and 153 trees around the stormwater basins and open space parcels.

For more details, see the updated Tree Preservation and Landscape Plan(PDF, 24MB)

Currently, there are overhead public electrical distribution lines that cross through the project site. These lines are in conflict with development of the site and must be relocated.

The City will complete this work prior to Pulte starting the development of the property. The cost is estimated at less than $3 million.

The City is in the process of establishing a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district to provide for reimbursement of the electric relocation cost.

Through a TIF district, the City will be reimbursed from the new property taxes paid by residents of the new development. The new property taxes are expected to pay off the City electric relocation costs within 4 to 5 years.

The TIF district will not provide any reimbursement to Pulte. All other site development costs will be paid by Pulte as the developer, including demolition, environmental remediation, site grading and installation of public infrastructure including roads, sidewalks and utilities.

For more information on the proposed Seventh Street Commons TIF District, see the Background and Summary document(PDF, 367KB).