Empty storefronts and vacant industrial sites are giving way to new development in a west Evanston neighborhood long plagued by urban decay.

The area just north of Simpson Street and west of Green Bay Road has already seen four loft conversions. Two are under construction and more are on the way.

Attracted by relatively low rents, businesses and residents — many of whom are artists — are moving into the neighborhood, once home to small factories and a retail strip.

The first phase of The Stamp Factory, which consists of six work/living units, opened two years ago, developer Andrew Spatz said. The site, located at Dewey Avenue and Payne Street, consists of eight attached buildings constructed between the 1920s and 1950s. It originally served as a metal stamping factory. Today the rehabbed warehouses have a modern facade stressing acute angles in walls and windows, a stark departure from the neighborhood’s old industrial feel.

Architecturally redeveloped and designed space that is also affordable is often unavailable within a five-mile radius of downtown, Spatz said. The rents at The Stamp Factory are $15 to $16 per square foot, about half of the downtown cost, he said.

“People get priced out of certain areas and that’s why other areas get developed,” Spatz said.

Adas/Spatz Properties has leased the first six units and expects to open nine more units within the next 40 days, Spatz said. The firm is planning two more projects for the same site.

The other construction project is at 1601 Simpson St. The building is part of a once-vibrant area that fell on hard times during the 1960s, said Mary McAuley, co-owner of Renaissance Realty and Construction and Renew Management, which is redeveloping the site. The structure, which once housed Fanny’s World Famous Restaurant, has been vacant for about 10 years. By the first half of April, it will have two second-floor lofts and four storefronts, including New Orleans Grill, expected to open at the end of February, McAuley said. The space is targeted toward artistic businesses, McAuley said. Her company already has leased one of the lofts to a Web design firm.

“Even though the space is somewhat unconventional, a lot of the businesses moving into the area are creative businesses and that’s exactly what they are looking for,” McAuley said.

Artist Linda Dean moved in October to a converted Ashland Avenue ice cream factory that McAuley’s firm developed in 2000. She liked the idea of having her home and studio in one loft.

“It just has a real sweet energy and it’s awesome,” Dean said. “It’s a very magical space and people just love coming in there.”

Fred Fitzsimmons, whose consulting firm relocated to a rehabbed bottling plant next door, said the main obstacle to further development in the area is lack of off-street parking.

In addition to repairing vacant space, gentrification increases the property value of nearby lower-income homeowners, McAuley said.

In 1999 the west part of the Fifth Ward, where the new developments are taking shape, had a medium household income of $41,036, compared to $56,335 for all of Evanston, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Jerome Summers, who is running for Fifth Ward alderman, said he wants developers to take the neighborhood into consideration when moving in, especially concerning affordable housing.

“I feel like the people who live here need to be considered when you’re improving something,” Summers said. “What you’re bringing — does it complement what’s already there? If not, then we need to talk about it.”

But Patricia Brown, another Fifth Ward aldermanic candidate, said the developments allow people to both work and live in the area, thereby improving it.

“I think that it makes the neighborhood look better,” Brown said. “It brings wealth to your community.”

Reach Greg Hafkin at [email protected].