Unhappy with a pair of proposals for the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park, a group of residents on Wednesday night used a public hearing on the development to offer their own blueprint for the area.
During the hearing, before the City Council’s Economic Development Committee, the Coalition for Appropriate Development of the Research Park also called on officials to restart the process. Members of the group want Mayor Lorraine Morton to appoint a select committee of volunteers, who would reissue requests for proposals for the research park project.
“We feel in order to come up with a development the community can support, it’s important to go back to the drawing board,” said Margaret Newman, a member of the coalition. “It’s a real important opportunity for Evanston. We want to make sure they get it right.”
But Morton responded: “There’s too much work already done. We spent a heck of a lot of money on this already. To duplicate that a second time would be throwing away taxpayer money.”
On Wednesday night, approximately 275 people squeezed into the City Council chambers for the first public hearing on the two hotel/theater proposals now before the city–one by John Buck Co. and the other by Arthur Hill & Co.
More modest in scale and density than those two proposals, the coalition’s plan calls for a small movie theater, a hotel and conference center, a performing arts center and low-density housing. It also includes plans for retail space, restaurants, office space and a facade renovation of the Levy Seniors Center.
The development proposal from Chicago-based John Buck Co. calls for construction of a $58 million, 648,000 square foot complex with a 150-room hotel, a 3,500-seat movie house with up to 18 screens, a performing arts center, about 150,000 square feet of office, retail and restaurant space and a 1,000-space parking garage built with city funds.
Northbrook-based Arthur Hill & Co. is proposing construction of a similar hotel complex and movie theater with 12 to 16 screens, which would include a program of art films in addition to popular releases.
In both proposals, the Levy Senior Center would be relocated.
The Economic Development Committee is scheduled to make a recommendation to the City Council regarding its choice of developments next week. The City Council is not expected to vote on the proposals until December.
