The Frankford Chocolate Factory at 2101 Washington Ave. has been sitting empty for over a decade, and its potential redevelopment is of interest to a whole lot of people in the surrounding area. So it was no surprise that last night's community meeting regarding this property was incredibly well attended. We counted at least 150 people packed into the Saint Charles Senior Center, interested in getting an update on the property, and eager to give their thoughts on how it should get redeveloped.
The meeting started with a brief intro from SOSNA, and then Cecil Baker, the architect for the project, spoke for a few minutes about the history of the property. Mr. Baker indicated a desire to preserve the middle section of the building, which dates back to 1865 and forms an L-shape from east to west, as well as the smokestack building at the corner of 22nd & Washington. This would present a challenge, as preserving the historic sections of the building would leave a relatively small space for redevelopment on Washington Avenue. On the other hand, it would open up the opportunity to develop proper scale of skinny Kimball Street, replacing the blank wall that's been on the south side of the block since the 1970s.
