Beacon Academy Withdraws $500,000 Robert Crown Center Pledge

EVANSTON, IL — The board of a private school has withdrawn its pledge of a $500,000 "charitable gift" to the Robert Crown Community Center. According to a letter from Beacon Academy Chair Patty Abrams to Evanston Assistant City Manager Erika Storlie, the contribution had been dependent on receiving guaranteed dedicated use of the facility's gymnasium during after-school hours. In exchange for the gift, the school would have received signage featuring its name and logo at the new Robert Crown Center gym.

"Beacon's participation as an early sponsor of the RCC project was predicated on our ability to utilize the gymnasium during immediate after-school hours, with a specific schedule to be determined when the needs of both Beacon and the City could be ascertained," Abrams said.

Originally built in 1974, the Robert Crown Center is being fully reconstructed as part of a multiyear expansion project. The expanded facility currently under construction will have two full ice rinks, a new library branch and the gym that Beacon Academy wanted to rent during weekdays after school. Beacon Academy is a Montessori high school in downtown Evanston that opened in 2014. According to its website, it has 210 students and annual tuition is $27,400.

Beacon would have paid a rate of $125 an hour through 2027 with the option for a five-year extension, per the most recent draft usage agreement posted by the city. It anticipated Beacon would reserve use of the gym five days a week from August to March for two hours a day in the fall and three and a half hours a day in the winter. City staff did not immediately respond to a request for more details.

The City Council has so far approved two naming rights agreements — $500,000 from Wintrust Bank to name an outdoor turf field and an indoor conference room, as well as $250,000 from Valli Produce to name the lobby, according to the city's Crown Center project website.

"Through the course of contract negotiations, it became apparent that the needs of the City and its residents would require Beacon to adjust its usage in ways not contemplated when the terms of [an October 2017 letter of intent] were structured," Abrams said. Because the school was unable to modify its scheduled use of the gym, the board decided to withdraw from negotiations to allow the school and the city to "pursue alternative arrangements," she said.

In a Nov. 7, 2017, letter to Bell, Friends of Robert Crown Board President Daniel Stein said "it is understood by all parties that this pledge of capital support is contingent upon the finalization of a program usage agreement [with the city and its parks department.]"

Beacon's pledge was first publicly announced in January 2018 by Friends of Robert Crown, the city-sponsored nonprofit raising private funds to defray the project's price tag, which has grown from $30 million to more than $53 million since an initial request for proposals in 2016.

"Beacon Academy is proud to be a part of Evanston and proud to fully participate in Evanston community life," said Jeff Bell, head of the school, in a statement announcing the pledge. "This is a visionary project that will benefit all Evanstonians for generations, and we are excited to stand with the City and Library to support area families and strengthen our community." The statement said Beacon's involvement would not diminish access or usage hours for organizations that currently use the facility.

On Aug. 7, two days after Beacon announced it was pulling out of negotiations of that usage agreement, Friends of Robert Crown issued a statement expressing disappointment.

"But to be clear, the blame for this unfortunate turn lies squarely with so-called Evanstonians for a [Financially] Responsible Robert Crown, whose irresponsible attacks, full of half-truths and racially tinged memes, created this divide," it said. The statement referenced a December 2018 op-ed in the Evanston RoundTable by four residents associated with the group.

"The over-the-top rhetoric from these opponents [has] cost the project $500,000 in capital contributions and tens of thousand in operating revenue for the city every year," according to the statement.

Friends of Robert Crown has so far provided the city with $5 million for construction, collected an additional $1 million to be donated next year and has been pledged another $6 million — meaning it has raised more than $12 million of its $15 million goal, according to the group and the city's project website. Outside of a $1 million programmatic partnership with Northwestern University, the only portion of the pledged amount that is contingent on future City Council approval is connected to usage and naming rights agreements with local hockey associations, according to the group.

In response, Evanstonians for a Financially Responsible Robert Crown said the Friends group was "blaming the messenger" for "asking questions and shining light on these 'deals' made with private entities without consideration of the residents' needs or feedback and for questioning the cost and the financing of what has become the more expensive project in Evanston's history." The group questioned the legality of Friends' negotiations on behalf of public assets before its March 2019 memorandum of understanding with the city.

"The City of Evanston approached Beacon several years ago seeking financial support for the building of a new Robert Crown Center. In exchange for Beacon's commitment, the City was to provide our school with priority scheduling for its after-school practices and games. Unfortunately the City is no longer able to honor its earlier commitment," Beacon Academy officials told parents, according to an excerpt of a letter included in the group's statement.

Storlie told the Evanston Review that Beacon's withdrawal was surprising, given that city staff had planned to meet with parents and participants in after-school programs to develop a schedule that would work with everyone involved. She said Beacon's logo would have been one of multiple logos in the gym that would all be in a smaller font than "Evanston" on its windows.

According to the Robert Crown Center construction project website, the new building is scheduled to be completed by the start of 2020. Work on the outdoor athletic fields was expected to begin in March and be complete by July 2020.