A once rusty triangle of land in Evanston may be turning into gold, boosting the fortunes of the city’s downtown revival.
The triangle of prime land — located next to downtown and Northwestern University — is developing into a real estate hot spot.
A new urban neighborhood is being built in this location at the heart of Evanston. An estimated $200 million worth of retail, high-tech office and residential projects, covering 1 million square feet, are under way or planned in and around the golden triangle.
It didn’t used to be so golden.
“In the mid-’80s, this was not a good area. It was covered by warehouses, parking lots, a discount clothing store, a power substation,” said Ronald Kysiak, executive director of Evanston Inventure, a private economic development corporation.
Now all that has changed. The new developments are changing the face of a downtown that is striving to regain its former importance.
“Evanston is in the starting blocks. The city has the opportunity for growth, even a mini-boom,” said real estate analyst Tracy Cross, based in Schaumburg.
Part of the appeal of Evanston is price, with residences selling for as much as 25 percent less than similar properties in Chicago, he noted.
“Evanston is in an enviable position. It has a lot of benefits that other suburbs don’t have,” said Cross.
These include its proximity to Chicago, excellent transportation, a lakefront location and beaches, Northwestern University’s economic and cultural benefits and a housing stock with three districts on the National Register of Historic Places.
The downtown triangle in Evanston used to command a low priority in part because of its location between two railroad tracks.
The triangle is formed by the CTA Purple Line elevated tracks on the east, the Metra tracks on the west and Emerson Street on the north.
Though the rail lines may have been considered a negative in the past, the train service is considered a selling point for new residents within walking distance of the stations.
The rebirth of the downtown already includes Church Street Plaza, with 18 movie screens and a Wolfgang Puck restaurant, and a 1,400-car parking facility. Under construction is the 175-room Hilton Garden Inn. Plus, earth-movers are excavating for the 909 Davis Building, a six-story office/retail complex.
“I hope it all works. If it does, it will change the character of downtown. The university has put a lot of effort in the redevelopment,” said Edwin Mills, professor emeritus of real estate and finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business.
“There has been a migration of business away from downtown for 15 years or more. But Evanston is special because it has a number of high-income people and students. Another key is the many two-worker families who may shop downtown because they don’t have time to shop elsewhere.”
New life in the triangle has been a catalyst for construction of two major condominium projects just outside it. Optima Towers Evanston with 105 units will be built at the corner of Sherman Avenue and Davis Street.
Church Street Station, at the corner of Church and Maple Streets, also will have 105 units.
One developer who has bought into the Evanston mystique is David Hovey, president of Glencoe-based Optima Inc.
“The city has vitality and a sense of community. It’s flourishing, not stagnant. It has its own character and is not just a bedroom community,” said Hovey, who plans to start building Optima Towers Evanston in April, after the old Bank One building is demolished.
Old-time residents, who are used to Evanston’s traditional architectural look, may be in for a surprise. The two 13-story towers will be glassy reflections of modernism.
“They will be 21st Century buildings in a town with many reminders of the 19th Century,” said Hovey, who also is an architect.
Evanston officials apparently were ready to accept the 21st Century.
“They approved the design the first time they saw it,” Hovey said.
Base prices for the one-, two- and three-bedroom units with floor-to-ceiling windows range from $173,000 to $420,000.
Amenities will include a landscaped interior courtyard with fountains, exercise rooms and an indoor pool and spa.
In keeping with its downtown location, Optima Towers will have ground-floor retail space, perhaps for a major retailer, according to Hovey.
First occupancies are projected for March 2002.
Just west of the triangle is the future site of Church Street Station, where the condos will range in size from 789 to 1,573 square feet and in price from the $190,000s to the $420,000s.
The mix will include 10 condo floor plans, five soft loft plans and five penthouses. The units will have floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies or roof terraces.
Construction of the 17-story building is expected to begin this spring. Amenities will include an indoor swimming pool, fitness center and outdoor sundeck.
“To be a 24-hour city, downtown Evanston needs a greater nighttime population, but it’s getting there,” said Tim Anderson, president of Focus Development, developer of Church Street Station.
Anderson said that more people living downtown will spur more retail, which will add to the street life. An important component will come from Northwestern University, both students and staff, he noted.
Arthur Hill & Co., the Northbrook-based firm that developed Church Street Plaza and the Hilton Garden Inn, plans to add a residential component to the triangle.
Construction is expected to begin this year on a 260-unit apartment building of more than 20 stories located immediately west of Church Street Plaza, according to G. Benjamin Ranney, a spokesman for Arthur Hill.
Designed to serve the high-end rental market, it will have street-level retail, a health spa and on-site parking.
Bridget Lane, executive director of Evmark, a private/public downtown organization, pointed out that the 186 stores in downtown Evanston will benefit from all the new residents, especially because many of them are expected to have high spending power.
While the Hilton hotel is still under construction, the $75 million Church Street Plaza complex opened last year to rave reviews.
“The new theaters were a long time in coming, but they have transformed downtown,” said Kysiak.
“We’re now fulfilling the long-range goal of a vibrant downtown. The cinema is sold out almost every night, the 1,400-car garage is filled and that helps the 75 downtown restaurants,” said Judith Aiello, Evanston’s assistant city manager.
“The combination of suburban and city living, bolstered by the new cinema, make Evanston a lot hipper than some of the more subdued suburbs to the north,” said Richard Kaplan, president of Syndicated Equities, which, along with Granite Realty, is developing the 91-unit condo conversion of Hampton Park in northwest Evanston.
More new downtown residents will live in the former Marshall Field’s department store at Church and Sherman. It closed in the mid-1980s and now is being converted into a condo development called Evanston Galleria.
Dating from 1929, the landmark building was designed by the renowned architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, which did the Shedd Aquarium and the Merchandise Mart.
In a city as diverse as Evanston, the recycling of downtown has not met with cheers from everyone.
“Some old-time residents say the new developments are too big, out of scale for the neighborhood and will generate too much traffic,” said Kysiak.
Assistant City Manager Aiello stressed that all new projects receive a thorough community review: “But not everyone is always happy.”
One landowner who is not happy is Stuart Handler, who wants to develop Scholar’s Corner at the southwest corner of Sherman and Church. The city approved his site plan for the project, which would include an 11-story building with 62 apartments, an Osco drugstore on the ground floor and 89 parking spaces.
However, the city later filed a condemnation suit to take the property. Handler believes the city prefers another developer’s plan because it would produce more tax revenue.
The other plan, called Sherman Plaza, proposes 200,000 square feet of retail, including a Sears store, a 200-unit assisted-living facility for seniors and 1,300 parking spaces. It would be a joint venture of Thomas J. Klutznick Co. and Horizon Properties Inc.
Vacant land for buildings ran out a long time ago in Evanston, which was founded in the mid-19th Century. Today, old structures must be demolished to make way for new.
But there are no threats to historic downtown structures at present, according to Carlos Ruiz, senior planner and preservation coordinator for the City of Evanston.
A huge excavation at the south point of the triangle is for the new 909 Davis Building, a six-story, 200,000-square-foot office/retail complex expected to be completed in April 2002.
The Mesirow Stein Real Estate project will be leased to Houghton Mifflin Co. and will house 350 employees of McDougal Littell Inc., a textbook publisher.
Redevelopment of the triangle began in 1986 with the launching of the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park. To date, four tech buildings with a total of 400,000 square feet have been built and another one is planned.
Located in the northern sector of the triangle, the research park houses 80 companies with 1,500 employees.
Kysiak noted that the young tech workers are helping to add a more youthful flavor to downtown, in addition to the university students.
Northwestern students occupy about half of the 283 apartments in the Park Evanston, a 24-story rental building that opened in 1997. Located downtown, it has commercial space on the ground floor.
A new residential project south of downtown is Chicago Avenue Place being developed by Roszak/ADC. Located at 1210 to 1232 Chicago Ave., it will consist of four buildings and 156 units when completed.
