Developer Plans Apartment Complex for Vacant Wesley St. Property

City Council will review plans Monday for a proposed apartment complex in downtown Wheaton at 218 Wesley Street, a block of vacant land bordered by Front Street, Scott Street, Wesley Street and Cross Street.

The property is under contract, according to listing agent Daniel Hyman. The purchaser, residential and retail developer Morningside Equities Group, Inc., is now in a "due diligence" period to determine the factors associated with the development of the site, according to City Manager Don Rose. Morningside has until Nov. 21 to tell the bank that owns the property whether it will proceed with the sale.

Morningside plans to build a 300-unit apartment complex on the 2.6-acre site, and will discuss with City Council the utilization of TIF monies for the project.

"I think there will be support for this," said Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk. However, council members will want to know how much in TIF monies Morningside will want and how they plan to use it, he added.

The bank-owned property is listed for $5.5 million, according to the city's website. The complex, according to Mary Ellen Martin of Morningside in a letter to Gresk, would include a courtyard with barbeque and social recreation areas; a theater; a fitness center; bike storage; residential storage; a community room with catering kitchen and a business center.

The six-story development would also include heated, enclosed parking for approximately 400 cars in an interior, two-level concrete parking structure, Martin wrote.

Council will review the plans submitted by Morningside Monday, Nov. 7 at , 303 Wesley Street.