Aldermen voted to have a consultant group evaluate the efficiency and space usage of the Evanston Civic Center while keeping the search for a site for a new government center open at a Tuesday’s Civic Center Committee meeting.
All aldermen voted in favor of the studies except for Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd), although he said knowing the space of the center, now at 2100 Ridge Ave, might be important.
Regardless the new center’s location, architects could use information about how the current center works and how efficiency could be improved, aldermen said.
Jean-Baptiste disagreed with the committee. H said a study would be “abstract” because evaluators do not have a particular site in mind.
“I would not think it would be wise for us to do this whole program study,” he said. “You will be more efficient in doing that if you know what you’re working with.”
The studies would help designers make drawings of what the city wants in a new center. The city should then use those designs to choose a site, said Martin Stern of U.S. Equities Realty LLC, the company contracted to help the city with decisions about the Civic Center.
“You don’t want to start drawing until you have a program,” he said.
The evaluation will take two to three months and cost $20,000 to $30,000, Stern said.
At the same time the studies are being done, the committee can continue looking into sites for a new center, Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th) said.
“We’ve waited too long,” he said. “We have to determine a site.”
The current Civic Center, first built in 1909, is in poor condition, according to the city’s Web site.
At a Jan. 18 committee meeting, the Evanston City Council voted against rehabilitating the current center. Refurbishing the all or parts of the center would be more expensive than building a new civic center, according the city Web site.
The city is now looking to sell the property the current center sits on.
Three or four weeks ago developers examined the center but said they needed more information from the city on what they could build, said John Kennedy, president of the Friends of the Civic Center Ad Hoc Committee.
On Feb. 9 the Civic Center was declared a historic landmark, meaning developers would get a 20 percent tax credit if they rehabilitated the center, Kennedy said.
“I think it’s a landmark because it is a part of Evanston’s heritage,” he said. “Is it a Taj Mahal? No. But is it a good old decent building, yes.”
Reach Lensay Abadula at [email protected].
