A slew of stores, theaters and restaurants have risen out of the once empty ground near Church Street in downtown Evanston. The result is an increasingly vibrant business district.
Four student-oriented businesses moved into the ground floor of the new 909 Davis St. office building during the summer. The Marble Slab Creamery, Noodles & Company, Electronics Boutique and STA Travel opened at the Church Street Plaza South to join The Corner Bakery, which was opened in March as the plaza’s first business.
The new shops represent a continuation of the commercial renaissance of the triangular area between the Metra and El tracks, which just a few years ago attracted little foot traffic.
In November 2000, the $90 million Church Street Plaza development opened across the street, with the 18-screen Century Theatres, Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe and a city parking garage anchoring the project. Last year the Hilton Garden Inn opened, and several stores and businesses have filled in the plaza along Maple Avenue.
Adjacent to the garage, construction started earlier this year on a 28-story condominium tower that will have retail space on the bottom floors — including a two-story Borders bookstore that will replace the chain’s current location on Orrington Avenue.
STA Travel opened on the south side of Church in May, moving from Orrington. The travel agency offers students discount rates for airline flights. The agency also can assist with planning trips abroad and travel insurance.
Noodles & Company followed in July with its latest Chicago-area location. The restaurant serves low-cost variations of noodle dishes, including salads, bowls and soups.
The Marble Slab Creamery, a franchise based in Houston, opened its doors in August. The shop’s titular frozen slab allows employees to mix ice cream with other ingredients customers request — similar to the ice cream shop in Willie’s Too in the Norris University Center.
Franchise owner Randy Shipley said he plans to host a student happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Students will be offered a free topping with each ice cream order. Students also will receive a 10 percent discount on cakes.
The latest shop to open on Church Street is the Electronics Boutique, a computer games store that opened earlier this month. It claims a floor space twice the size of its closest competitor in Old Orchard. The last time Evanston had a computer games store was in 1997, when Babbage’s Software went out of business.
But after two years of development, the Church Street corridor is becoming the focus of downtown, said Todd Jones, the manager of The Corner Bakery.
“With the proximity of Northwestern University and future development here, I see Church Street becoming the center of downtown Evanston,” he said.
