By Tess Kenny
Iron Gate Motor Condos no longer wants to add a residential component to its Naperville complex of luxury storage units, eying instead new expansion plans that build on what it already offers.
Iron Gate, located just west of Route 59 on Ferry Road, is a collector’s haven that provides amenity-filled garage space for people who want to store and display the cars, motorcycles, pinball machines and other big toys they acquire.
These garages aren’t your typical concrete depots. They’re more akin to lounges, outfitted with gourmet kitchens, wet bars and entertainment centers, giving clients an area to hang out with or show off their collector items.
The one amenity the condos do not offer are sleeping arrangements, which Iron Gate planned to add three years ago when it proposed building 51 town homes as part of the complex.
Those plans never progressed, however, and last week Iron Gate representatives were back before the Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission with a request to abandon the residential project in favor of one that would allow them to pursue a new self-storage/garage facility expansion.
Iron Gate has been built out as a 22.3-acre planned unit development (PUD) over the last nine years, according to Sara Kopinski, a community planner with the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department.
The venture started with 185 garages-turned-dens followed by the “Iron Gate Motor Plaza,” an automotive retail center built alongside the garages so that condo owners could have easy access to the auto services — from detailing to audio equipment installation — they might need.
Iron Gate’s reimagined expansion project, dubbed “Iron Gate Motor Park,” will complement these first two phases, said Tom Burgess, founder and developer of Iron Gate.
Proposed for a spot adjacent to the existing condos and plaza, the motor park project will include three elements on a 4.8-acre site, all of which will offer storage and garage space.
Iron Gate Motor Condos in Naperville is planning an expansion that will offer three options for self-storage/garage facilities. First, the development will include 17 new private garage condos similar to those that have already been built, according to Burgess. Each will have two floors and will be equipped with a kitchen, bathroom, balcony, air conditioning and storage space. Outside there will be a gathering area furnished with a fire put, picnic tables, a TV and grills.
Beyond additional garage units, the expansion will offer two other means for storage: “You-Park It” and “We-Park It,” Burgess said. You-Park will provide indoor storage for cars, boats and RVs. Storage units will be temperature controlled and accessible 24/7.
We-Park would be more hands-off storage, where Iron Gate members would have their cars taken care of and maintained for them while stored away. Burgess said he imagines We-Park and You-Park as options for clients who might not need a whole motor condo but still want a reliable place to keep their possessions.
The concept was the result of “listening to the market,” he said, which is also why he decided to move away from the residential plan.
Asked why bedrooms were no longer on the agenda, Burgess cited the “economic environment” in recent years. He also said the existing Iron Gate condominium community, which is managed by a homeowners association, wasn’t amenable to the idea.
Tess Kenny is a contributor to the Naperville Sun and the Chicago Tribune.
