: The former St. Charles Hospital and Fox River Pavilion Nursing Home at 400 E. New York in Aurora will get a $20 million rehab and become a home for independent senior living.

The city of Aurora has announced plans to rehabilitate the former St. Charles Hospital through a series of state tax credits and private investments.

The vacant former hospital, located at 400 E. New York and also once home to the Fox River Pavilion Nursing Home, would be transformed into an independent senior living facility.

The $20 million plan, still contingent on a funding mechanism fix by the Illinois General Assembly, was announced late last week.

“It’s a fantastic project,” said David Block, director of developments for Verigreen, the project’s coordinator. “Everybody wants it to happen, to have a building we’ll all be very proud of.”

The Art Deco structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, also the last year it was in use.

The complicated layers of financing and tax credits — totaling $20 million — were assembled in an effort involving Seize the Future Development Foundation, the Northern Lights Development Corporation, Verigreen Development and Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner’s office.

But the $20 million project by Verigreen Development is in jeopardy without a legislative fix in Springfield.

Funds provided by the State Historic Tax Credit through the River Edge Redevelopment Zone program would contribute roughly $4 million to the project that would drive economic growth and beautify the eastern gateway to downtown Aurora.

However, the River Edge Redevelopment Zone (RERZ) is set to expire at the end of 2016, likely before renovations could be completed and residents could move in.

“The extension of the (RERZ) program would be enormously helpful in making this project come to fruition,” Block said.

If the River Edge Redevelopment Zone program is not extended, not only would $4 million be lost for the building rehabilitation, the remaining $16 million in private investments would also likely be lost.

Instead, the historic property would continue to stand vacant, at risk of a fate similar to the blighted former Copley Hospital on Lincoln Avenue a mile south.

To save this and other worthy redevelopment projects around the state, the city encouraged local lawmakers, including State Rep. Linda Chapa La Via, State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit and State Senator Linda Holmes – all of whom are already co-sponsors of a bill to extend the RERZ – to prioritize the passage of Senate Bill 1642 before the General Assembly adjourns.

This bill would extend the life of the River Edge Redevelopment Zone program beyond 2016, giving developers across the state the time to build projects that generate business and revenue that would not otherwise exist in Illinois.

In addition, the city is asking residents to contact their state lawmakers to express their support for SB 1642 to ensure that projects like the redevelopment of the former St. Charles Hospital move forward.

The St. Charles Hospital rehabilitation project would beautify a major corridor in the city, restore an historic building to the requirements of the National Register, create 60 construction jobs for local companies and help stabilize an economically distressed neighborhood.

— Former Aurora hospital gets new life with $20 million rehab —