After years of false starts, controversy and plans derailed due to the pandemic, the Evanston City Council at its Nov. 10 meeting approved a developer’s proposal to build what an expert said would be the Chicago suburbs’ tallest residential building.
Developers envision a 299-foot, 29-story mixed-use high rise with 419 residential units and 40 parking spaces at 605 Davis Street, Evanston. The City Council approved the project on a 5-4 vote as the city and its residents grapple with opposing views on what to allow to be built when it comes to denser housing options.
Shawn Ursini, senior building database manager of the Council on Vertical Urbanism in Chicago, reviewed the building plans and said that, if the skyscraper is constructed and completed according to them, “as designed, 605 Davis Street would be the 5th tallest building, and the tallest all-residential building, in Illinois outside of Chicago if built as planned without any other contender projects completing before it.”
He noted that the Council does not officially bestow rankings, such as “fifth tallest,” until a building is completed.
While the developers have given the proposed building’s height as 299 feet, Ursini said as he looked at the plans, that is only to the main roof above the 29th floor and does not include the elevator overrun or screening for mechanical equipment.
“According to the scaled drawings, these permanent design elements features would bring the building’s official architectural height up to approximately 318 feet/96.9 meters,” he wrote in an email.
Vermilion Development, one of the project’s developers, has for years intended to build something on the site. In 2019, the city’s Planning and Development Committee rejected a proposal for Vermilion to develop a 33-story mixed-use development, effectively blocking the proposal before it reached the City Council.
In 2020, the City Council approved a development proposal from Vermilion to build an 18-story office building at the location, but it was a week before the COVID-19 pandemic, the developer told Pioneer Press.
And last year, Vermilion bought surrounding parcels of land from Chase Bank for $2 million. After the purchase, Vermilion and its development partner Campbell Coyle teamed up with the owner of the University Building at 601 Davis St. to move forward with their current proposal.
The initial proposal was for 31 stories and 447 apartments. The developers later reduced the number of apartments to 430 to create larger apartments, eliminating some one bedroom and studio apartments to create more two-bedroom units, the developers said at a community meeting.
Those plans were later rejected by the city’s Land Use Commission, but were still eligible for a hearing from the City Council because the Council was the determining body for this case, according to Jessica Mayo, the city’s community and employee engagement coordinator.
Once before the City Council, the developers were told that they would need to scale the project down again after it was clear that the project would not win the Council’s approval without doing so.
Because the developers are making 20% of the apartments in the complex affordable, they are eligible for a significant property tax discount under an Illinois program designed to boost affordable housing. Under the program, the difference between taxing the current assessed value of the lot and taxing the value of the completed tower, post-construction, would be completely waived for the first three years. The discount would shrink over the 30 years after the project’s completion. The significant reduction in the property tax revenue that would flow to the City of Evanston irked some on the City Council, who complained about the loss of revenue the city would otherwise have earned.
The developers, for their part, have said that the tax break makes the project financially viable, and without it would make it unfeasible build the proposal.
A last minute effort from 1st Ward City Councilmember Clare Kelly to table the matter quickly faded after no other City Council member seconded her motion.
“Well, I’m very sorry. I think we’re really doing an incredible disservice,” Kelly said. “I have to say, Daniel, too, it’s really disconcerting — the ethics involved with you letting developers write the letters to advantage them over others to get the property sold to them,” she added, referencing Mayor Daniel Biss’ letter to Chase Bank in which he encouraged Chase to sell small parcels of land surrounding the proposed tower to Vermilion, as previously reported by the Evanston RoundTable.
“It’s important for me to advocate in private for the same things I advocate for in public, for affordable housing and for density,” Biss previously told Pioneer Press.
The other tallest buildings in Illinois outside Chicago are, according to the Council on Vertical Urbanism:
- Oakbrook Terrace Tower 418 feet/127.4m, Oakbrook Terrace (all office)
- Two Pierce Place 395 feet/395m, Itasca (all office)
- Illinois State Capitol 361 feet/110m, Springfield (government)
- Wyndham Springfield City Centre 352 feet/107.3m, Springfield (all hotel)
