Sales soar in Howard TIF district

Brokers attribute growth to special tax incentives; business owners concur

By Mike Cherney

The Daily Northwestern

For first-time business owner Benny Sohn, life is going well at the Howard Street laundromat he purchased last month.

Sohn, who inked the $750,000 deal for Clean Wash Laundry, 807 Howard St., on March 10, said the laundromat’s location in the city’s new tax increment financing, or TIF, district swayed his decision to purchase the property.

“I like it here,” he said. “The location is good and it was a reasonable price.”

Sohn is one of several business owners who has purchased property along Howard Street in the past several months, contributing to what Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) called an unprecedented upsurge in property sales.

Several Evanston real estate agents agreed that the high level of sales indicate both the economic rejuvenation of the area and the growing success of the TIF district, which offers developers financial incentives.

The sales come on the heels of Evanston City Council’s approval of a $44.5 million rental condominium project along Howard Street.

“It feels very positive,” said Rainey, whose ward includes the Howard TIF district. “I haven’t had that feeling in 20 years. I’ve watched the street and tried to work on it for 20 years.”

In addition to Sohn’s laundromat, a building at 339 Howard St. sold for $1.58 million and another building at 741 Howard St. sold for $1.3 million, Rainey said at an Economic Development Committee meeting last week.

Alan Weissman of ProperTex, Inc., who manages the building at 339 Howard St., said the property was purchased more than a month ago. He said the TIF district probably made the property more attractive.

“I’m sure it didn’t hurt,” he said, adding that a nail salon was slated to rent the storefront.

Ron Ehlers, a broker associate for Prairie Shore Properties, said the TIF district has received strong support and hopeful expectations from the community.

“Everyone that I have spoken to, everyone that is living in the area, they are very excited about it,” said Ehlers, who lives on the 100 block of Clyde Avenue near Howard Street. “Hopefully the TIF (district) will draw in more restaurants and more traditional stores that will appeal to everyone.”

The economic activity generated by the TIF district is a “traditional story of urban sprawl,” Ehlers said. As other areas in Evanston have become built up, he said potential buyers and investors started moving to areas which were not as expensive.

“Most areas in Evanston have already been redeveloped, and this area is just following suit,” he said. “Once a certain area reaches a certain price point, people start going further north or west or south to areas that have not been redone.”

Evanston Gas, 140 Chicago Ave., which lies just around the corner from the TIF district, also recently sold for more than $1 million.

“The owner that bought this has 10 (gas) stations,” said Omar Sweiss, the manager of the station. “This was just another way they could add to their portfolio and it had the potential to do well.”

Rainey said the sale of the gas station was evidence that the Howard Street TIF district was promoting economic growth beyond its borders — another positive development for the city.

“You don’t get that when you have an area that’s dead,” she said. “It has to do with economic activity.