Evanston Plan Commission members are still outspoken about the narrow approval of a 49-story skyscraper in the heart of downtown.
The commission voted Dec. 12 in favor (4-3) of what would become the city’s tallest building, sending the proposal for city council approval.
The tower, proposed for 708 Church St., would house 45 stories of luxury condominiums, three stories of parking and one story of retail stores.
If the tower is built in Fountain Square, located in a space bound by Church and Davis streets and Sherman and Orrington avenues, the 523-foot building would exceed prior zoning laws of 85 feet in the area. The zoning law requires the developers Klutznick-Fisher Developments and Focus Development to provide public benefits in exchange for the height, but some commissioners said the benefits are not sufficient to justify the building.
Developers cited an expanded tax base as a public benefit of the proposed tower, but Evanston would not see the benefits until 2019, after a tax increment financing district has expired, Commissioner Johanna Nyden said.
“This being an engine for economic development is completely false,” she said.
City council members held a closed meeting on the proposal last spring. The closed meeting, illegal in Illinois, caused a public outcry that ultimately led to the release of the meeting’s minutes. During the meeting, city council members showed unusual support for such a tall project, citing economic benefit.
“There is significant interest in the project, removal of the Fountain Square building and redevelopment of the Fountain Square area and recognition of the need to move forward in the near future,” Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) said at the meeting, according to the minutes.
Commission member David Galloway who voted in favor of the proposal, said although some local retailers may be displaced, the overall potential economic benefits of a properly-executed project of this type outweigh the costs. The project will define Evanston in the 21st century, he said.
“A development like this helps assure the downtown of Evanston is vitalized with the increased habitation of people in the core,” Galloway said, “which then creates a bigger market for retail, which then creates a greater marker for offices, which then creates a better market for people to live downtown.”
“A project of this type, if done properly and is high-quality, can be a substantive shot in the arm for the vitality of downtown at a time when the markets are ripe for that.”
Developers said they would protect the landmark building located in Fountain Square. That structure, built in 1927, was erected by the same architect who built the 708 Church St. site four years earlier, said Commissioner Robin Schuldenfrei, an architecture historian.
“It’s a historic block of architecture,” Schuldenfrei said. “We’re being asked to give up a lot, so it needs to be a significant public benefit to destroy the visual and urban character of that block.”
Nyden said she also voted against the proposal because of the lagging housing market. There is no guarantee the proposed 218 condo units would sell, she said.
Some current retailers have said they would not be able to afford the higher rates to remain in the location, Nyden said.
The proposal still has to be reviewed by the City Council. Council members Cheryl Wollin (1st) and Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th) declined to comment until all the information has come before them.
“It isn’t an issue of development versus anti-development or the old Evanston of a sleepy town versus a new Evanston or a boring downtown versus a vibrant downtown,” Schuldenfrei said. “It’s not black and white. We need development to be a little more careful moving into future downtown displacements of elements of Evanston that are working.”
Reach Kirstin Maguire at [email protected].
