Why does zoning matter more than the median price when buying near downtown Westmont?
A full zoning rewrite finalized in 2025 has created special districts near the Cass Avenue Metra stop where the Village is actively encouraging redevelopment, backed by public infrastructure spending and a proven assemblage project already approved. Properties inside those boundaries can carry a redevelopment premium that has nothing to do with condition or square footage.
Two homes sit three blocks apart in downtown Westmont. Same era, same square footage, same finish level. One is priced like every other comp on the block. The other just got a call from a developer's assemblage team, and its value has almost nothing to do with its kitchen or its roof. The difference is not condition. It is which side of a zoning line it happens to sit on, and that line has been moving for the better part of a year.
If you are comparing Westmont to other western suburbs right now, the headline number you have probably already seen is the median price. In August 2026, Westmont's median listing price sat around $405,000 according to one major portal, while another put the median sale price at $419,000 with an average sale price of $459,942. Redfin's rolling three-month figure through May 2026 showed a median of $410,000, up 7.8% from the same period a year earlier. Those numbers are not contradictory so much as they describe two different markets wearing the same zip code. One is the ordinary resale market: ranches, split-levels, and post-war colonials trading on condition and square footage the way they always have. The other is a small, deliberately engineered pocket around the Metra tracks where the Village has spent the last year rewriting the rules to make redevelopment the more profitable use of the land.
The Zoning Change That Started It
In August 2025, the Village Board approved a comprehensive rewrite of Westmont's zoning ordinance, its first major update since the late 1970s. The rewrite split the old single downtown business district into pieces built for different intensities of use, then went further with new districts aimed specifically at the blocks nearest the tracks:
- B-1(A) Downtown Core, along Cass Avenue between Richmond and Norfolk Streets, concentrates the most intensive mixed-use development closest to the station.
- B-1 Downtown Edge, the remaining commercial frontage formerly known as B-1 Limited Business, handles lower-intensity commercial uses further from the core.
- R-7 Downtown Residential, currently R-5 zoned parcels along Burlington Avenue and West Quincy Street, incentivizes new row-home construction in place of the mixed housing stock on the ground today.
Community Development Director Joe Hennerfeind framed the logic plainly: the goal was to acknowledge that the downtown, while small, is not all the same, with the new districts focused on density near the station while accommodating the housing types already along Burlington and Quincy. The Planning and Zoning Commission held a hearing on the specific parcel-by-parcel rezoning on June 10, 2026, with the Village Board holding final say on which properties land in which district. As of this writing that process is still moving through review, which means the map is not finished. If you are underwriting a purchase near Cass, Burlington, or Quincy right now, that boundary is not a formality. It is the difference between a house you renovate and a parcel someone assembles.
The Village Is Paying to Make Assemblage Possible
Zoning on paper is one thing. Westmont backed it with cash. Beginning this spring and continuing through fall 2026, the Village has been realigning the East Burlington Avenue "S-curve" roughly 150 feet east so it lines up with North Linden Avenue, a project funded by the Village Board for fiscal year 2026. The stated purpose is not traffic flow. It is to create a larger, buildable parcel out of land previously split by an awkward curve. Mayor Steve Nero called it a tremendous opportunity for Westmont, saying the repositioned S-curve and combined parcels at 1 North Cass would create a development-ready site for a new mixed-use project on the north side of the tracks.
That is a Village government spending its own construction budget to make private redevelopment financially workable on a specific stretch of land. It is not a hypothetical about future growth. It is infrastructure money already in the ground this year.
Downtown Already Has Proof This Works
Skeptical that rezoning translates into real dollars? Westmont has already run this playbook. The Village approved the Cass Avenue Station project, a seven-story building with ground-floor commercial space and 174 apartments across studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units. Building it required assembling several separate parcels into one buildable site: the parking lot at Cass and Burlington, the strip mall on Burlington east of Cass, and Haraldsen's Garage at 21 E. Burlington.
Economic Development Partnership Director Larry Forssberg called it an important project for the heart of the central business district, noting it would work alongside the Quincy Station development, another downtown apartment project, to secure downtown's long-term future. Whatever their current construction status, the Cass Avenue Station approval proves the underlying math: individually modest, oddly shaped parcels near the Cass and Burlington intersection can be worth substantially more assembled than they are separately, once zoning allows the density.
The Train Station Itself Is Getting an Upgrade
The value of that density depends on the commute it sits next to. Metra's 2026 construction program lists new platforms at the Westmont station on the BNSF Line among this year's system-wide capital work, part of a $57.7 million allocation for station and parking improvements nationwide. A platform upgrade does not change the express ride into Chicago, which already runs roughly 35 minutes during peak hours on Metra's busiest line. What it does is lock in the physical infrastructure that makes density near that specific station a durable bet rather than a temporary incentive.
Money Is Also Flowing to Existing Buildings
Not every dollar downtown is chasing new construction. Since 2023, the Village's Downtown Incentive Program has awarded more than $275,000 in matching grants to property and business owners in the Central Business District for facade work, signage, and fire suppression systems. For fiscal year 2026, the Board tailored the program toward the east side of Cass Avenue, funding sprinkler installations that make older commercial buildings viable for continued use rather than demolition. Applications for this cycle are being accepted through the end of December 2026. It is a smaller lever than zoning or the S-curve project, but it shows the Village working both ends of the problem: clearing the way for new density where it wants it, and subsidizing the buildings it wants preserved everywhere else.
What This Means If You're Comparing Westmont to a Neighboring Suburb
None of this changes what a typical Westmont single-family home three or four blocks off Cass Avenue is worth. That home is still priced the way homes have always been priced, on condition, layout, and the comps around it. What it does change is how you should think about anything sitting inside or near the B-1(A), B-1 Downtown Edge, or R-7 boundaries. A dated house on a small lot near Burlington or Quincy is not necessarily a fixer-upper priced accordingly. Depending on which side of the rezoning line it lands on, it may be priced as land with a use permit attached, and that is a very different negotiation than the one most buyers expect to have.
If you are weighing Westmont against a neighboring suburb on affordability alone, the village-wide median is a fair starting point. If you are looking specifically at property within a few blocks of the tracks, that median tells you almost nothing about what you are actually bidding against.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this affect homes outside the immediate downtown blocks?
No. The zoning mechanism described here applies specifically to parcels inside the B-1(A) Downtown Core, B-1 Downtown Edge, and R-7 Downtown Residential boundaries, centered on Cass Avenue between Richmond and Norfolk Streets and the surrounding stretches of Burlington Avenue and West Quincy Street. Single-family homes elsewhere in Westmont continue to price on the same condition and comp basis they always have.
How do I find out if a specific address falls inside one of the new districts?
The boundaries were still moving through Planning and Zoning Commission and Village Board review as of mid-2026, with property owners within 250 feet of affected parcels notified directly. The Village's Planning and Zoning Division is the source of record for the current map.
Is this kind of redevelopment premium unique to Westmont among the western suburbs?
Downtown redevelopment near a Metra stop is not unique to any one suburb, but the specific combination now in place in Westmont, a full zoning rewrite finalized in 2025, Village-funded parcel assemblage infrastructure under construction in 2026, a station platform upgrade the same year, and an already-approved assemblage project proving the model works, is a distinct and current situation worth understanding before comparing it to a neighboring market on price alone.
If you are trying to figure out whether a specific Westmont property is priced as a house or priced as a redevelopment opportunity, that is exactly the kind of question worth a conversation before you write an offer. Call or text Rob Brannigan at 847.609.0570 or visit robbrannigan.com.
Additional Resources
- A Local's Weekend Guide to Westmont
- What to Know About Single-Family Homes in Westmont
- Finding Newer Construction Homes in Westmont
Written by Rob Brannigan (IL License #475.164040), RENE + SRS. Lifelong Downers Grove resident. Data-driven guidance for sellers and buyers in Downers Grove and surrounding communities.
