Neighbor News
Press the Pause Button on Kroehler Mansion Demolition
Local architect's vision shows how mansion can be reused with new homes built on land
The owners of the Kroehler Mansion, Little Friends, are pushing to demolish the historic building located in the Naperville Historic District at this Tuesday’s city council meeting. It’s time to push the pause button. Local architect Tom Ryan has envisioned plans that show how the Kroehler Mansion can be adaptively reused with the rest of the land dedicated to new homes, resulting in 20 high-value homes which would generate tax revenue for Naperville.
“This plan would make the property extremely valuable due to the number of new construction saleable units, the unique historic feature, and, most importantly, its location," says Ryan, who has over 20 years experience working for many residential clients in and around the Historic District. Readers can view a video and many still images of these plans on Naperville Preservation, Inc.
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In October, the Naperville Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) turned down the owner’s request to tear down the Kroehler Mansion, due to Peter Kroehler’s lasting impact on Naperville’s history. Kroehler’s company was the major employer in Naperville during the first half of the 20th Century, and his impact remains with 5th Avenue Station, the Kroehler Family YMCA, North Central College, and Kroehler Park.
Little Friends desires to move to more modern facilities, and they see wiping the land clean as the best way to get the most money for this land, which was conveyed to them by the City of Naperville in 1989. So, they are appealing the HPC decision to the City Council. The neighboring residents, who also live in the Historic District and abide by the same requirements to maintain their historic homes, overwhelmingly oppose this plan to demolish.
Find out what's happening in Napervillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Why not try to keep the Mansion? CBRE, the commercial real estate services firm hired by Little Friends, has not even marketed the land with the Mansion on it. We are sympathetic to Little Friends’ need to move, but once the Mansion is approved for demolition, there is no turning back.
Why not pause for 6 weeks while the land is marketed with the Mansion remaining? We are certain that Little Friends will get the price they need. Let’s press the pause button.
