Naperville City Council To Discuss Moser Tower Repairs

NAPERVILLE, IL — The Naperville City Council will discuss the proposed repairs to Moser Tower at an upcoming meeting on March 3. The future of the tower and how to address its compromised structure have been a matter of official city discussion since 2015, when a structural assessment of the tower revealed corrosion and cracks.

The initial discovery spurred the Riverwalk Commission to hire a consultant who worked with interested firms to determine what was causing the tower, which was built in 2000, to deteriorate so quickly, and how best to repair the degrading structure.

This led to three possible options for the fate of Moser Tower that were weighed at a Feb. 12 Riverwalk Commission meeting. Either the city would opt to repair the tower, repair the tower and enclose its lower portion in glass or inspect the tower on a regular basis and demolish it when necessary.

The Feb. 12 meeting resulted in a unanimous recommendation to repair to the tower, which has a capital cost of $1.5 million and structural maintenance costs of more than $26, 000 annually. This rounds out to a total cost of $2.3 million over the next 30 years.

The only more affordable option would be to monitor the tower and demolish it when needed, which has a price tag of $1.5 million over 30 years. Building a glass structure around the bottom of the tower in addition to repairs would cost just over $3 million over 30 years.

In addition to cost, Riverwalk Commission officials note in city documents that they considered other factors when making the decision to repair the tower instead of monitoring it in the coming years. They added that Moser Tower and its carillon have become "a focal point of Naperville."

Members of the community are invited to attend the March 3 meeting and are encouraged to sign up online to speak at the meeting. Residents can also sign up in person by stopping at the City Clerk's office between from 6:30 p.m. to 6:55 p.m. on March 3.