For Weinberg freshman Bridget Igoe, who has lived in Evanston for the past 10 years, Old Orchard Shopping Center has always been the place to go for movies and shopping.

But that might change this fall when a wave of big business and retail sweeps through Evanston.

The Church Street Plaza project, conceived in August 1996, is set to be completed in November.

The $90 million entertainment, retail and residential complex designed by the architectural firm Arthur Hill&Co. will be located at the southern end of the Northwestern/Evanston Research Park.

The plaza will feature a Century Theater 18-screen movie complex, an Urban Outfitters clothing and accessories store, a Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe, a microbrewery, a six-story Hilton Garden Inn, a 260-unit residential building and a 1,400-space parking garage.

“I’m sure I’ll go to the theater a lot,” Igoe said. “It’s so close that a lot of college students will want to go, especially if there is a student rate.”

While students such as Igoe remain optimistic about the plaza’s effect on the Evanston business environment, some community members and small-business owners are skeptical.

Troy Thiel, director of the Evanston Small Business Association, cited potential obstacles to the project’s success, such as the inability of the developers to bring originally proposed sites such as Virgin Records and Sundance Films, a performing arts theater. He also said competition from Old Orchard could limit profits.

The length of time developers took to sign leases, unstable finances and City Council’s closed-door meetings also could hinder the plaza’s development.

But Jonathon Perman, director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, said he’s optimistic about what the project will bring to Evanston.

“It’s going to have a big impact on other businesses in the area,” Perman said. “We’re going to attract people from the surrounding areas. For people in the area, it brings a wonderful eating and shopping attraction, adding to the luster of the community.”

Many community members echo Thiel’s concerns about the project. Amid the secrecy of closed-door council meetings and shifts in original project outlines, some raise doubt as to the success and legitimacy of the new development.

“At this time it appears as if the development proposed by Arthur Hill&Co. and accepted by the city has big gaps in the promise the city gave from the beginning,” Thiel said.

Tom Fischl, owner of Ofischl Sports, also questioned the number of leases the developer Hill has signed.

“They promised us that before they dug in the ground at least 85 percent of the leases would be signed,” Fischl said. “Arthur Hill did not meet that deadline, but the city let it pass.”

Although he did not give specific numbers, Ben Ranney, marketing manager of Arthur Hill&Co., said a number of spaces had signed leases, while several others were in a variety of stages.

“We’re not at liberty to announce the arrival of the businesses we’ve signed leases with,” Ranney said. “I’m sure they will do so when they are nearer to their opening.”

Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) said the reason for the change in proposed businesses and the delay in signing leases was due to the businesses’ changing interests in the venture.

“I don’t think the project is really that different than was originally proposed,” Newman said. “It’s a hard thing for people to understand that once we propose something, the private economic market has the option to agree that it would be beneficial for them to participate.”

Newman added that the project evolved to incorporate the residential component because of the community’s request for it.

Liz Reeves, a founder of the former Coalition for Appropriate Development of Research Park, agreed that residential development was a good move on the part of the city, but cited parking and traffic problems — as well as a lack of community interest in retail — as the main concerns for residents and local businesses.

“There is a definite parking crisis in Evanston,” Reeves said. “The cinema was proposed to bring thousands of people in on a Saturday and I question whether the streets and available parking will be able to hold all of that traffic.”

According to Fischl, parking problems are nothing new to downtown Evanston.

“The No. 1 concern about how downtown Evanston businesses will succeed is a parking and traffic one,” Fischl said. “This garage is not going to help that much.”

Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) agrees that the project brings more traffic problems for the area because of the layout of the streets.

“The more I look at the site, the more I consider the streetways into it,” Moran said. “There are difficulties in the traffic coming in and going out. When you look at Old Orchard, there are four major roadways and a lot of ground-level parking. I do think the garage is a positive thing that will relieve some parking problems.”

But Perman said the 1,400-space garage will more than suffice.

“The garage will help alleviate the parking problem in general,” Perman said. “Anyone can use it for any reason, so downtown parking will be made easier.”

Aside from causing parking and traffic problems, the Church Street Plaza has forced several Evanston stores out of business, Thiel said.

He cited Nine West, Blockbuster Video, Champs Sports Store and Super Crown Books as several places that closed because of the plaza.

But Ranney said new development would revitalize the city’s business community.

“Until the last 20 years, Evanston was the shopping capital of the North Shore,” Ranney said. “We’re just putting new life into what used to be a thriving retail center.”

But Thiel said there was a tangible reason for the failure of retail in Evanston.

“Thirty years ago Old Orchard in its current form didn’t exist,” he said. “There has been a tremendous amount of market development that has come along in the surrounding areas, which will make this particular development less of a draw than many may think.”

It is the difference in types of businesses opening on Church Street that keep city officials and others optimistic about the new development’s success.

“There is no brew-pub at Old Orchard,” said Perman. “There is no Wolfgang Puck at Old Orchard and there are no state-of-the-art movie theaters.”

The one thing that remains common in all arguments about the plaza is the hope that the new development will generate revenue by attracting more consumers to the Evanston downtown business community.

“Everything is connected, it’s all related,” Fischl said. “I hope the Church Street Plaza will succeed somehow, because if it doesn’t, businesses will leave.”