A major development project has officially broken ground in downtown Riverside.
Construction began on Tuesday, Sept. 1, on the planned apartment complex at 28-30 E. Burlington St., starting a process that could take up to 18 months according to property owner Patrick Leone.
The work kicked off with a groundbreaking ceremony featuring village staff, elected officials, representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and developer duo Leone and Mary Leone, his wife.
Once completed, the five-story complex will feature 22 luxury apartment units, including two so-called live-work units on the ground floor for tenants to live in the back and run a business out of the front.
Plans for the project began about three years ago, when preliminary materials first made their way through the village’s review process beginning with its planning and zoning commission.
Most recently, the village approved a final plan for the complex at the start of 2025, with expectations that the work would start later that year and reach completion by the end of this year.
With work finally underway, Community Development Director Anne Cyran said construction documents listed 450 days of work, “which, based on the start in August, would put us in October of 2027.”
Leone gave a more liberal estimate of a year and a half, putting the opening of the building around March 2028.
The two parcels had housed the former site of Coveny Lane, a home decor and beauty boutique, at 30 E. Burlington St. and a medical office that housed a controversial pain clinic at 28 E. Burlington St.
Leone purchased the property of the clinic in 2018, having previously purchased the adjacent property, and demolished the existing buildings that year. Before then, he said each parcel had been left unused for a number of years.
“One building was out of use for a good 10 years, and the other one probably five or six years,” he told the Landmark. “It’s been a lot of work to get to this point, but it’s nice to see it finally getting under construction.”
The Leones said they hope to see the apartments become a bastion for Riverside residents who wish to downsize from their homes while staying in town.
“There is a lot of need. People have been here for years, they’ve raised their kids here, and they don’t want their big homes anymore, but they want a luxury place to live in town,” Mary Leone said. “I think that it’s going to fulfill a need. A good need.”
Cyran agreed, calling housing for residents to age in place “a missing housing segment in Riverside.”
“For folks who love the community and want to stay, but aren’t, for whatever reason, interested in having a single-family house or a different type of housing this offers another option for them,” she said.
Cyran said the project “builds on the momentum” that Riverside’s downtown area is experiencing.
“New businesses have opened. Investments have been made by longstanding businesses and property owners. There’s energy in the events like the farmers market, Spring Fling and Holiday Stroll. It also compliments the streetscaping the village has done on East Burlington Street and what we have planned for East Quincy [Street], Riverside Road, East Avenue and Forest Avenue,” Cyran said.
