The owner of Olive Mountain Restaurant, assisted by a Northwestern economics lecturer, has collected 2,000 signatures since November to oppose Evanston City Council’s attempt to condemn the restaurant property.
Ahmed Saleh, who has run the Middle Eastern restaurant at 814 Church St. for the past 10 years, said the signatures he has collected support his fight against the council’s push to begin “quick-take” condemnation proceedings through the Illinois Legislature.
Saleh’s parcel of land is needed for a proposed $110 million Sherman Plaza development by Thomas J. Klutznick, which would include a Sears department store, 135,000 square feet of space for specialty stores, a parking garage and a senior luxury apartment building. However, the lone alderman who voted against the condemnation said he’s not sure the development’s anchor store will still build in Evanston.
The council approved plans Nov. 13 to condemn the property and hired lobbyist Lawrence Suffredin to help push an amendment through the state legislature that would allow “quick-take” condemnation of the property.
Such legislation would mean Saleh would have to vacate his property within 60 days, Saleh said. Regular condemnation proceedings, which can be undertaken by the city alone and don’t need state legislative approval, could leave Saleh’s business in place for as long as 18 months before requiring him to vacate, he said.
If state Sen. Kathy Parker (R-Evanston) maintains her opposition to the legislation, chances are lower such an amendment would pass in the Republican-controlled legislature, said Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th).
Bernstein cast the only dissenting vote in the council’s November action.
“Whether the developer can keep people in line and for how long, that’s the question,” Bernstein said. “I don’t know if Sears is around now. That’s why I didn’t vote for condemnation.”
Northwestern economics lecturer Mark Witte assisted Saleh by circulating his petition at NU. Witte said Evanston could be kicking out functional businesses to bring in a potential white elephant, comparing Sears to the recently defunct retail chain Montgomery Ward & Co.
“I like the restaurant and I think Evanston is being kind of mean,” Witte said. “The concern is that if Evanston begins treating merchants in this way, who will ever want to come and start a business here?”
Bernstein said he hadn’t seen anything concrete from the developer that confirmed the retailer’s commitment to the Evanston project.
Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) confirmed the council has yet to see a legal contract or formal agreement from Sears, but said the retailer issued a press release months ago announcing a store opening in Evanston.
“The people signing the petition need to know both sides of the issue,” Newman said. “If we don’t do the project, we still have to rebuild the garage and that will end up causing taxes to be raised by $20 million.”
The new parking garage proposed by Klutznick will replace the crumbling Sherman Avenue parking garage near Olive Mountain.
Newman said the city has not filed a lawsuit seeking condemnation as allowed by the November vote and instead hopes to resolve the issue with Saleh through negotiation.
So far the city has been unable to reach an agreement with Saleh on a reasonable price for the property.
Saleh said the city offered him only $805,000 for his property, but he asked $1.5 million, which he said is a fair asking price.
“I’m not trying to be greedy,” Saleh said. “I just want what’s fair.”
Negotiations are pending new appraisals of the property, one commissioned by the owner and one by the city. Saleh expects his appraisal within the next two weeks.
