Williams family transforms downtown Yorkville building into a destination

YORKVILLE – A development group has transformed a prominent downtown Yorkville building into a destination for people seeking premium beverages in a relaxing environment.

It’s all in the family for the Williams Group, with Ed Williams, wife Karin and son Mike having completed a major renovation project to the former industrial building.

Now known as Riverside Plaza, the building is located at the northwest corner of South Bridge Street (Route 47) and West Hydraulic Avenue on the south bank of the Fox River.

Formerly known as the Investor Tools building, the structure is best identified by the “Dicksons 1954″ tablet inscribed on the facade of the brick edifice.

The final business to open inside the building is Fox Republic Brewing, 101 W. Hydraulic Ave., which is owned by The Williams Group and other investors.

Fox Republic joins The Iconic Coffee Shop, 109 S. Bridge St., which opened last summer, along with the next-door Foxes Den Meadery, 101 S. Bridge St., opening this past spring.

The building also is home to Red’s Baseball Academy, 111 W. Hydraulic Ave., an indoor training facility with batting cages, weightlifting equipment and an open space covered with artificial turf.

Also doing business on the first floor is Second Chance Cardiac Solutions, which markets automated external heart defibrillators.

The upper level of the rehabbed two-story building includes two fully furnished apartments designed for short-term leases.

Fox Republic Brewing has opened at 101 W. Hydraulic Ave. in downtown Yorkville. The business facade is seen here on July 28, 2023. (Mark Foster)

Yorkville city officials, eager to see redevelopment projects and new businesses in the downtown, worked with The Williams Group to provide financial incentives for the building restoration project and changes in the city liquor code to accommodate the meadery and the brewery.

The Williams Group invested more than $2 million in the building project, including acquisition of the property and the extensive renovations.

For the renovations to the 3,300-square-foot Fox Republic Brewery space, the developer spent $270,000, excluding the cost of the brewing equipment.

Last year the Yorkville City Council approved an agreement to reimburse the developer up to 25% of that cost, or $67,000 in tax increment financing district funds.

The city also waived some building permit fees for the project.

In exchange, the agreement calls for The Williams Group to grant property easements to the city.

One of the easements stretches along the south bank of the Fox River from the bridge west to a point near the former post office building, for the creation of a riverwalk.

The city already owns and operates Riverfront Park on the south bank of the river just east of the bridge.

The other easement is for the northwest corner of West Hydraulic and South Bridge streets on a grassy area next to the building.

The high-visibility location is one the city has had its eye on for the installation of a sculpture or another form of art.

The building has a parking lot with 54 spaces accessible from Hydraulic Avenue.

The Williams Group renovated this building at 101 S. Bridge St. in downtown Yorkville as Riverside Plaza. (Mark Foster)