The Aurora City Council recently voted to annex nine properties along Bilter Road, just north of the Chicago Premium Outlets mall in the city, in a move seen as helping with planning for a possible widening of the road.
The city purchased the properties along the north side of Bilter, between the Prairie Path and the entrance to the outlet mall, in 2019.
The properties once had houses on them, but the city has torn them down.
City officials have said the annexation would help city engineers in planning for the eventual widening of Bilter Road. That segment of Bilter is the last that is only two lanes.
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Aldermen also recently approved a $381,850 contract with Aurora-based HR Green, Inc., for the first phase study of widening Bilter.
The land is in an area generally identified by the city as the Farnsworth Avenue corridor, in which the city owns land on both the north and south sides of Interstate 88.
The city sees the general area as ripe for redevelopment, and is in the midst of putting together a master plan for it, similar to what the city did with the Route 59 corridor last year.
What might eventually end up on the Bilter Road property has already been the subject of much debate. City officials have, in the past, entertained the idea of urging Hollywood Casino to move from its downtown location to that area, building a casino, entertainment venue, hotel and convention center there.
The city purchased the nine properties, covering about 50 acres, for $9.8 million. It spent $140,191 to have the houses town down.
Doing a first phase study means strictly looking at a plan for the widening; it is uncertain when officials would move forward with that widening, and what it would cost.