More than a year after a popular South Campus restaurant mysteriously closed its doors, a Chicago pizza chain is preparing to reopen the abandoned building.
Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria presented its case to the Evanston Zoning Appeals board Tuesday night, urging board members to approve its zoning application and grant exemptions from the property’s residential status. This is a necessary step before it can renovate and move into the building at 1850-54 Sherman Ave., the same site that housed Yesterday’s restaurant until September 2000.
Since Yesterday’s was able to operate with variances, or exemptions, from the city-designated residential zoning of its property, Lou Malnati’s – a chain with 20 locations in the Chicago area – must receive a continuation of those variances before it begins any renovations.
There was not enough time during the meeting to hear statements from neighbors, many of whom do not want a restaurant adjacent to several apartment buildings. The board scheduled a special meeting for next Tuesday so it can hear from the neighbors and make a decision.
Brian Miller, Associated Student Government’s liaison to City Council, attended the meeting and told The Daily he welcomed a new restaurant in the Yesterday’s space, which is at the corner of Sherman Avenue and University Place across from Willard Residential College. He said a restaurant is needed near South Campus to fill the void left when Yesterday’s closed.
“It would be great for any kind of restaurant to get into that spot,” said Miller.
When Yesterday’s closed it gave little notice. Managers posted help-wanted signs just weeks before and interviewed students for jobs. But the city cut the restaurant’s water off after it missed a monthly bill and ignored several late notices.
Cosmopolitan Bank & Trust has been trying to sell the property since Yesterday’s moved out, but Marc Malnati told the zoning board his company would only buy the building if it was allowed to make certain changes to the property.
Malnati said he plans to tear down a one-story annex that houses the kitchen and build a new one a few yards north. The new kitchen will be easier to use and keep clean, Malnati said.
Moving the kitchen also will free up space along University Place for more parking spaces and a dumpster, he said.
Malnati also plans to remove the bar area, which he said will make the new restaurant less noisy than Yesterday’s was.
“We will not have a bar. This is not a watering hole,” Malnati said. “And we will not have music.”
Neighbors have also complained that the new restaurant might create exhaust and heat problems. But Malnati said his restaurant’s food will not create as much exhaust as Yesterday’s did, since he will not cook beef or fry fatty foods.
The neighbors will have their say at the meeting next week. And many of them do not see their concerns as minor.
Jo Bernero, who lives in the 1860 Sherman Ave. building, said the issue for her is potential noise from students Lou Malnati’s might attract.
“The students make a lot of noise and they drink beer – as they did at Yesterday’s,” Bernero told The Daily. “The main thing is quality of life. We live there, and our bedroom windows face the restaurant.”
