The revitalization of Orrington Plaza, 1603 Orrington Ave., will make the space more pedestrian-friendly, said Lee Golub of CFRI/Golub Evanston LLC, the project’s developer.

The project, approved at the June 27 meeting of the Evanston City Council, should begin construction by the end of the year and take about one year to complete, Golub said.

No retailers are finalized for space in the plaza, but Golub hopes to attract clothing stores and other “soft goods” stores.

“I’m sure we’ll get a lot of interest from restaurants, too,” he said.

The east side of the 1600 block of Orrington was all but abandoned after the Jan. 31 departure of Cingular Wireless. Borders Books & Music, the anchor store of the block, left for its present location, 1700 Maple Ave., in 2003.

The west side of the block relies on foot traffic, said Matt Steponik, manager of the recently opened Caf� Ambrosia, 1620 Orrington Ave.

“Anything that brings more foot traffic by will help,” Steponik said about the project.

Golub said making the plaza more inviting is part of the plan.

“A key aspect of it is making Orrington pedestrian-friendly, which will be good for the merchants on the other side of the street as well,” Golub said.

The plaza is too big as it is now, Golub said, so making it a little smaller and adding stores will make it more pedestrian and easier for people to use.

The development plans to turn the second floor of the former Borders store into office space, leaving about 30,000 sq. ft. open for retail on the ground floor, Golub said.

The BankOne building’s rotunda will see additional retail space and its entrance will be moved to Orrington from its current location on Davis Street.

Reach Elizabeth Kirk at [email protected].