Scaffolding prevents shingles from sliding off the roof. Strips of duct tape adhere like Band-Aids to broken floors. The fuse box and radiators are originals, circa 1909.
Evanston’s Civic Center, at 2100 Ridge Ave., is falling apart, forcing the city to search for new accommodations–and rekindling old tensions over land with Northwestern University, which happens to own the plot city officials say is best suited for a new city hall.
University officials say the city has threatened to take the 1-acre plot at University Place and Railroad Avenue by eminent domain if Northwestern refuses to sell.
Evanston City Council members won’t say whether they have discussed eminent domain with university officials. They did say the plot, located just south of Emerson Street, is one of several under consideration.
They also said they hope it won’t come down to eminent domain.
“We certainly have that option,” said Ald. Ann Rainey (8th). “But that would be the last thing we would want to do.”
University officials said council members first approached them about selling the property last month. Northwestern declined, university spokesman Alan Cubbage said.
“Land is very valuable to us,” Cubbage said. The university offered to share the use of any building constructed on the land, he said, but “we really are not interested in money.”
Last week, city officials returned with talk of eminent domain, Cubbage said.
The university acquired the plot in a land swap with the city eight years ago, a deal the university agreed to even though the swap left it with a smaller plot, Cubbage said.
Still, the university might be interested in another land swap or in rezoning property west of Sheridan Road to allow the university to acquire property there, Cubbage said.
The main concern is making sure the university’s reserve of land is not depleted, he said.
“We’re relatively small [geographically] for a university of our [enrollment],” Cubbage said.
The city, meanwhile, is in desperate need of a new location, and the university plot, where Evanston’s farmers market is located, is ideal because it is large, central, vacant and close to public parking and public transportation, city officials said.
“It would be perfect if it were owned by the city,” said Max Rubin, director of facilities management at the current Civic Center.
Council members said they considered renovating the current location, a four-story building constructed in 1909 as a Catholic girls school. The estimated cost, however, between $20 million and $30 million, is prohibitive.
“If we sell the Civic Center and get money … we then have a pocket to dip into to buy a new place,” said Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th). “If we stay there, we have to find $20 million [to renovate].”
Staying put isn’t an ideal option, Rubin said. The ceiling leaks, the bathrooms don’t accommodate wheelchairs and the fuses continually blow, he said. The air-conditioning units, buried in the ceiling, are in constant need of repair.
Old radiators heat hallways with vaulted ceilings at an exorbitant cost, and the building design, small rooms and large staircases, does not meet the needs of civic affairs.
It would cost $2 million just to fix the roof, Rubin said.
“It’s a hazard,” he said. “It’s a risk to the people around the building.
“We need to take action.”
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dhoran@tribune.com
