Nestled in an aging strip of Laundromats, dry cleaners and beauty shops along Howard Street, James Skafidiotis has no choice but to close his decades-old furniture store.
“If I cannot make it doing this for 41 years, no one can make it on this street,” the 76-year-old Skafidiotis said. “Nobody has any business here.”
Skafidiotis and other merchants have long struggled to profit along Howard. Now a section of Evanston most Northwestern students only see from the El tracks is the focus of what could be a 23-year program for redevelopment.
Evanston’s Economic Development Committee last month suggested the Evanston City Council hold a public hearing to establish a tax increment financing district along Howard Street. A TIF district is a local tool to spur redevelopment in blighted areas.
But Skafidiotis, who has sold furniture for 41 years — 20 of them at Superior Furniture Resale, 711 Howard — said redevelopment along Howard won’t happen anytime soon.
“You see a lot of improvement around downtown, around Evanston Hospital,” he said. “But here it might take years to improve.”
Despite skepticism from business owners, city officials say the TIF district could fulfill its revitalizing purpose.
“There is a need for public participation to get that development (on Howard),” said Dennis Marino, assistant director of the Evanston Planning Division. “There’s a lot of chronic vacancies and underused properties. The buildings just don’t fill their highest and best use.”
When a TIF district is created, the property tax revenue in the district is capped for 23 years. This capped amount still goes to the city and other taxing bodies, but any excess tax revenue — presumably from new development — would go directly back to improvements within the district.
This encourages developers to invest in deteriorated areas because the extra tax revenue generated could alleviate construction or redevelopment costs.
There are currently four TIF districts in Evanston: one near Sam’s Club on Main Street, one on Howard where Target and Best Buy are located, one near Whole Foods Market at Chicago Avenue and Church Street, and one downtown near Century Theatres and the Church Street Plaza.
The proposed Howard TIF district would include the storefront section of Howard between Ridge Avenue and the CTA tracks near Chicago Avenue. A southern portion of Chicago Avenue also would be part of the district.
‘There’s got to be a plot’
Although the city views redevelopment on Howard as important, many local business owners say they fear being pushed off ground they have held for years.
“I think we are not in the equation,” said Selma Moses, owner of Caribbean Linstead Market and Grocery, 723 Howard.
Because this TIF district would be in the Eighth Ward, Moses said she blamed Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) for not noting business concerns.
“I’m of the opinion that Ann Rainey thinks that most businesses down here are not legitimate,” she said. “From her behavior, it’s obvious she doesn’t care.”
Rainey, however, said the businesses need not worry, so long as they remain viable. “If they shape up and conduct expansible businesses, they won’t have any problem,” she said.
But even the economic development tools the city already is using — such as improving streets and sidewalks — are causing problems for businesses. Without any parking lots nearby, the stores rely on street parking for their customers.
“We don’t count on this side of town,” said Maurice McKenzie, owner of Caribbean Shipping and Postal Service, 721 Howard. “If I was shallow minded, I would say there’s got to be a plot.”
Businesses in the past have made similar complaints about the city’s big-business development focus. After the Church Street Plaza project began, many merchants joined the Evanston Small Business Association — a group they felt better addressed their interests.
Marino, however, said TIF districts and infrastructure improvements are not purposely directed at the existing small businesses.
But for businesses that are forced out, this isn’t necessarily the end, said Donald Eslick, executive director of the Illinois Tax Increment Association.
“Normally what cities will do is try to find some place to relocate those merchants,” Eslick said. “Sooner or later a lot of those smaller retailers are not going to be able to compete.
Eslick said cities have dealt with this problem for decades, as mom-and-pop stores were gradually eclipsed by national retailers.
But for Moses the idea of help from the city is highly unlikely.
“I think (the TIF district) will be good for the city of Evanston and the city of Chicago,” she said. “But what can we do? Can we fight city hall?”
‘A radical transformation’
As many businesses worry about the TIF district, veterinarian Barbara Carlson said it could only improve business at the Howard Street Animal Hospital, 715 Howard.
“I don’t necessarily want it to look like Target, but I don’t want it to be on a street that looks like there’s a lot of vacant stores,” Carlson said. “That’s just not good for business.”
And city leaders said past projects have had a positive impact on the business community.
“The downtown you see today was not that way five years ago,” Marino said. “It was quite a radical transformation for the better.”
But just because an area is designated as a TIF district does not mean developers will come immediately. The city still has to convince potential developers to take on the risk.
Marino said Evanston is working on a more attractive Howard streetscape — complete with repaved roads and improved sidewalks.
