Another 200-Unit Elmhurst Residential Building?

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst may see another 200-unit residential building downtown, the mayor indicated last week.

The building would be part of a development that would feature the proposed Elmhurst Centre for Performing Arts, Mayor Scott Levin said during a candidates forum.

The developer is Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies, which opened the 200-unit Vyne on Haven apartment complex last April.

At last week's League of Women voters forum, Levin said the performing arts center would be a "real boon" to downtown Elmhurst.

He said money from the downtown tax increment financing district, or TIF, would be appropriate for the project.

"Not only will (the project) beautify and increase the functionality of downtown, but it will increase the tax base of what we're bringing into the city and for the schools," Levin said. "We need to get behind this. We don't have to put funds of our own, but a TIF incentive is clearly the right way to go."

A representative of the performing center's nonprofit group referred Patch's questions about the possible 200-unit building to Ryan Companies. A Ryan spokeswoman said she had no information available as of Monday morning.

At the forum, Mark Mulliner, Levin's opponent in the April 1 election, said the center would be a "tremendous" asset for the city.

"However, the one thing I would say is that we need to be cautious about it. Those TIF dollars should be used for specific purposes of infrastructure improvements and providing some overall benefit," said Mulliner, a former longtime alderman.

He said the city had ways it could help the center, but "I don't think we should be the financial funding group behind it."

The League of Women Voters also asked City Council candidates about whether they favored the city's financially helping the center. Here are their answers:

Ward 2

• Alderman Jacob Hill said he and other aldermen visited the performing arts center in Arlington Heights. That center, he said, needed city money to remain viable. "I don't want and would not pursue a performing arts center that needs city funding to remain viable," he said. "I'm sure that those who are pursuing a performing arts center are going to create a situation where it is viable."
• Kevin Kirby said the city's financial involvement is a "theoretical question without any sort of number or any sort of figures in front of us." He said he believed the local center would ultimately be privately funded.

Ward 4

• Mike Baker said he did not think the city had a place to be financially involved at this point. "If there are isolated opportunities to look at to partner with them on some things, that would be great. We have to think about the things we get involved in as a city," he said.
• Bobby Fontana said the center would be good for downtown. "That said, I don't think there's a need for direct support," he said.

Ward 5

• Adam Park said he was excited about the center. But "as far as an actual direct investment from the city to the center, I'm not sold on that," he said.
• Dan Virgil agreed with Park. He said the performing arts center doesn't align with the city's main purposes of infrastructure and police and fire protection.