Four City Council candidates called for Evanston to consider a partial rehabilitation of the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center during a Friday afternoon press conference outside of the 2100 Ridge Ave. building.
Led by 3rd Ward candidate John Kennedy, the group pressed the city to issue a request for proposals for a partial rehabilitation of the building. Fifth Ward candidate Carlis Sutton, 8th Ward candidate Matt Rodgers and 4th Ward write-in candidate Margaret “Meg” Welch also attended the press conference
“What we are really demanding is not moving back into the Civic Center. That’s a separate question,” Kennedy said. “What we are demanding is that the city get an RFP that does a partial rehab of the building, fixing only the things that are needed so that we are saving money over the long term.”
This push comes a month before the city fully relocates operations to the recently-named Lorraine H. Morton City Hall downtown. Last January, City Council voted to authorize a 15-year lease of the office space at 909 Davis St., with an option to exit after seven years.
The city is still weighing options for a permanent home for city affairs. At the most recent City Council meeting on Feb. 24, City Engineer Lara Biggs presented cost estimates for continuing to lease the Davis Street space and for renovating 2100 Ridge Ave.
At the meeting, Biggs said the city had received three estimates from three separate consultants over a 25-year period, leading them to believe a full rehabilitation and renovation of 2100 Ridge Ave. would cost a minimum of $50 million.
At the press conference, Kennedy explained that an estimate provided by Redmond Construction quoted a “back of napkin” estimate of $20-25 million for a partial upgrade of the building. Significant contributors to this estimate include office space renovations in the basement and third and fourth floors, HVAC and electrical upgrades and adding an elevator.
The city is also evaluating the cost of renovating Evanston Public Library to form a combined library and city hall, as well as the cost of including a city hall in the 900 Clark St. high-rise development.
City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to eliminate the Civic Center as an option for future city operations at its next meeting on March 10.
At the Feb. 24 meeting, Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) advocated for removing 2100 Ridge Ave. as an option, allowing staff to further pursue alternatives. He cited the building’s size, cost and functionality.
“It just doesn’t make sense to plan on even the possibility of moving back to 2100 Ridge,” Nieuwsma said.
Nieuwsma faces only write-in candidate Welch in the April 1 elections.
On Friday, Welch criticized the city for dismissing the option of a partial rehabilitation.
“This does not serve our residents — our taxpayers — well,” Welch said. “We are in an era of reduced federal funds for the overall city budget. We need to be frugal, we need to be extremely careful with our funds, and we also need to show our residents that we’ve considered all options.”
The candidates present at the press conference differed in opinion on where the Civic Center should be located but agreed that a partial renovation should be considered as an option.
Sutton said relocating the Civic Center from its 5th Ward home would be an inconvenience — especially to elderly residents seeking city services.
Rodgers clarified that he was not advocating for moving back into the Ridge Avenue building but for increased information about the partial remodel.
“In order for councilmembers to make important decisions, all options should be on the table,” Rodgers said.
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