By Greg HafkinThe Daily Northwestern

Walk down Chicago Avenue and you’ll come across an old building just south of Dempster Street with a huge sign that mentions the Web site whatsgonnahappenhere.com. It’s an attempt by the developers to engage interest in the future of the physical site, and during the past two months they’ve gathered more than 85 guesses on the virtual site.

Some of the most recent speculations include Wal-Mart, a Russian bath house, a nudist restaurant and a skate park. Although it’s clear that each of these could prosper in Evanston, I doubt we’ll see any of them at 1245 Chicago Ave. anytime soon.

Evanston’s buoyant real-estate market suggests that the question the developers are really asking themselves is, “What’s gonna happen here that will bring us the most profit?” The logical choice would be to build as many condos as zoning permits, or even more if the city allows it, and put in a chain store or two at the ground level.

But since this might not sit well with some neighborhood curmudgeons, the full question might indeed be, “What’s gonna happen here that will not enrage area activists?” Whatever that is, it will have to be no more than three stories high and will not be allowed to touch the sidewalk, unless the developer wants to be accused of “canyonization.”

All you have to do is look around a few neighborhoods in Evanston to ask yourself the question, “Is anything gonna happen here?” More than three years after Smithfield Properties came to the city with plans to redevelop Kendall College, the eyesore buildings are still fenced off and standing empty on upper Orrington Avenue.

Carroll Properties has fumbled around for one-and-a-half years with its plans for the corner of Oak Avenue and Emerson Street, but construction equipment has yet to arrive on the vacant lot.

The previous developer of the site started to construct a laboratory building but backed out after pouring the foundation in 2002. It’s like someone put a curse on the site. I can’t even recall how many times some developer has proposed renovating the shops by the base of the Chase Building since Borders left in 2003.

And when things do happen, they tend to take a long time to come about. The Sherman Avenue Garage stood closed for more than a year before it was knocked down to make way for Sherman Plaza. Plans for the site go back to at least 1999, when it was suggested to build 200 residential units and a Sears. Evanston got the condos but had to put up with less appealing retail offerings. Down by the CTA’s Howard yard, the awkwardly placed Bristol Chicago high-rise took three years to reach the building phase.

I don’t mean to say that Evanston is the only place where construction proceeds at a trickle, if at all. The world is full of unrealized plans and schemes, from New York’s Second Avenue Subway, the plans for which go back to the 1920s, to Stalin’s unbuilt Palace of Soviets in Moscow, complete with a 100-meter statue of Lenin. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it’s only fair to expect a few potholes on the road to urbanity.

With all this in mind, what do I think is gonna happen at 1245 Chicago Ave.? The sign will stay around for a few years, but the domain name will expire on Nov. 20.

Eventually, the building will pass from one developer to another, and by the end of the decade there might be a branch of a national bank on the site. Evanston’s retail rents will rise so much by that time that no other industry would be able to afford them.

Or maybe I’m wrong and something bigger will happen there. After all, I hear the city is looking for a place to put the new Civic Center.

Assistant City Editor Greg Hafkin is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].