When repairs on the roof of Chef Station in Evanston begin later this month, the place will be completely surrounded by construction.

“When I say we’re surrounded by construction, I mean nobody’s been as surrounded as we are,” said Peter Mills, the restaurant’s owner.

Since September, Chef Station, 915 Davis St., has paid a price for its location. The restaurant is no longer open for lunch because construction projects on the 900 block of Davis near the restaurant’s main entrance and on the 1600 block of Maple Avenue near its west entrance have deterred customers.

The restaurant’s earnings are down about 25 percent from last year, and Mills was forced to close for a three-week period in January and again in April. Mills blames torn-down sidewalks leading to the restaurant and fencing around the construction for the drop in patronage.

“In the restaurant business, customers look for consistency,” said David Richards, the restaurant’s chef. “Closing and opening is bad. Our regular customers will find the open door, but it’s the people who have never been here before that find it difficult.”

Fearing the risk of having to close down permanently, Mills looked to the Evanston City Council for financial support before construction started. Council members strongly supported the two construction sites around Chef Station and agreed to facilitate Mills with an expense package of about $40,000 that will cover the cost of advertisements and renovations.

“The city has helped us as much as they can,” Mills said. “Normally, a city’s policy is not to help out individual merchants … but the argument was that they took away our building’s (outer) facade, its flowers and its awnings.”

The council also covered the entire cost of operation when Mills had to close down for two three-week periods. The compensation was based on what the restaurant made in January and April of last year.

“We needed to extend ourselves to him so these projects we ended up supporting wouldn’t kill his business,” said Ald. Edmund Moran (6th). “The council had given a lot of money for relocation to people (from other businesses); it seemed like we needed to help Peter out as well.”

Although he said the assistance was not enough to make a profit, Mills continued to pay his servers, cooks and Richards.

He said his decision to stay in the location beneath the Davis Street Metra Station remains firm despite the two construction projects that are not scheduled to be completed until June 2002.

“I’m hanging on because of what might come of the new building (next door),” Mills said. “When it’s done, it will be real convenient.”

The office building being constructed as part of the Church Street Plaza development will be the new home of McDougal Littel, a publishing company formerly located at the Rotary Club. The site on Maple Street will be a 260-unit condominium, Mills said.

“I’m still here because I love the space,” he said. “He who is here two years from now will have the best space in the city.”

To boost business, Mills has been hosting wine dinners for individual wineries such as Kendall-Jackson and Palm Imports. Mills has also reluctantly asked the Evanston Health Department for permission to open the restaurant’s rear door to customers, requiring customers to walk through the kitchen, he said.

Mills said construction is so bad that the post office is having difficulty getting mail to them.

“Our address doesn’t exist – 915 Davis is no place,” he said. “I’m still getting calls today with people asking, ‘Are you open again?'”