Historic riverfront excites St. Charles
St. Charles, a quaint town on the Fox River, features a vibrant downtown with charming antique shops and boutiques, fine dining, arts and entertainment and all kinds of recreation.
The historic riverfront community will have even more to boast about as its First Street Redevelopment Project comes full circle. The mixed-use development along the Fox River will bring in more shopping, restaurants and residential communities along with attractive landscaping and streetscapes.
'There's a lot of excitement downtown with the First Street redevelopment, which takes advantage of the core downtown and riverfront," said Jay Rodgers, team leader with RE/MAX Professionals East in St. Charles.
"They're well into the first stage of the parking garage and the start of the Milestone Row condos on the south end of First Street. The new Blue Goose (Market) has been relocated, which is kind of a fixture along the river. So things are really taking shape."
Steve Garton, managing broker of Kettley & Company Realtors, echoes Rodgers' enthusiasm. "The redevelopment should create more activity than we've ever had downtown," he said. "When we first moved here 24 years ago, there were two restaurants downtown, and now there's a ton of good restaurants. Sage Bistro, Pub 222, Beehive Tavern & Grille; they're good club-type restaurants, but we have a variety of places to eat."
Rodgers, who has lived in the area since 1976, says the same things he enjoyed growing up are selling the community today. He believes the ongoing commitment to the quality of the school system, which is continually ranked very high within the state, and the well-maintained bike paths and forest preserves are strong draws to the area.
St. Charles offers a diverse mix of housing priced from $250,000 to about $4 million, with a lot of real estate in the $500,000 to $800,000 range, Garton said.
"Although the market is slow, it's still pretty good, and our company is doing well. We're on the corner of Routes 31 and 64 in the center of downtown, and 40,000 cars go by every day. So people stop in to see us all the time.
"People are often surprised at how nice people are here," he added. "We get a lot of comments that with an upscale community, people might not expect that friendliness. But in a lot of ways, we're a small community, and we haven't lost that friendliness."
Several stations of the slavery era Underground Railroad were in St. Charles homes complete with tunnels and false doorways. There was also an open abolitionist group called the Kane County Anti-Slavery Society founded in 1842 with about 180 members.
For Rodgers, a great part of living in St. Charles is that you need to treat yourself as a tourist because there are so many things right under your nose here, he said.
"Culturally there are some real gems," Rodgers said. For example, he said, the Steel Beam Theatre, housed in a rehabbed historic building, is a great example of opportunities for children and adults to gain experience in theater on an intimate level with real quality theater.
The Norris Cultural Arts Center offers a variety of events-theater, orchestra and a variety of some nationally renowned performances.
And Rodgers always make it a point to go to the Arcada Theatre, which dates from 1926 and is historically well-known. It brings in a variety of talents and live performances. "You can have a good meal and see a live performance and have a nice evening out," Rodgers said.
St. Charles is a great place to raise a family, Garton said.
"It's a clean town with well-kept properties and beautiful, safe parks, great festivals throughout the year, and schools where teachers really care about the kids."