'Breakthrough Moment': Northlight Purchases Evanston Theater Site

EVANSTON, IL — Northlight Theatre has completed the purchase of the site of its planned downtown Evanston theater center. Theater officials hope to complete the project and relocate from the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie by the fall of 2024.

Plans have already been approved for the 38,000-square-foot, three-story design, with a 300-seat main stage theater. Of the total project cost of about $25 million, the state of Illinois has contributed $1 million, and about $4.5 million has been contributed by other foundations and agencies.

The nonprofit has also requested the City Council grant it $2 million of the Evanston's $45 million allocation of COVID-19 relief funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to finish the project faster. Theater representatives say they need to raise about $10 million more to complete construction.

Northlight was founded in Evanston in 1974 as the Evanston Theater Company. It previously performed in the since-demolished Coronet Theater on Chicago Avenue, and it has leased space in Skokie since 1998.

“Northlight in downtown Evanston will be the destination driver we need," Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said in a release from the theater. "It will attract people to our community who are not only from Evanston but also from Chicago and the North Shore, people who will spend money in our local restaurants and shops before and after attending a performance. Northlight will also serve as a cultural hub and be accessible to the entire community including our youth who will be able to experience professional theatre and participate in enriching theatre arts education.”

Twice in recent years, the arts nonprofit worked with commercial real estate developers on proposals for mixed-use developments to return to Evanston.

A 2015 plan to build a roughly 400-seat theater at the southeast corner of Benson Avenue and Clark Street was foiled when the developer was unable to acquire all the necessary property. And a 2017 proposal for what would have been Evanston's tallest building — a 39-story condo, hotel and theater complex — faced fierce opposition from residents and was withdrawn in April 2018.

"After some, much frankly, negative community feedback, we pulled out of that project," Executive Director Tim Evans said. "At that time, the City Council urged us to go to it alone without developers and their financing, and that is what we've been pursuing since."

In April 2019, the nonprofit revealed its proposal for the Church Street site, which received zoning and planned development approval from the city in late 2019. In mid-2019, it was earmarked for nearly $1 million from the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois state capital bill.

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Evans told the Evanston Economic Development Committee that theater officials were four weeks from signing an agreement to purchase the 0.5-acre parcel at 1012-16 Church Street — including Amy Morton's The Barn and the former sites of Thai Sookdee and Evanston Rocks, Rock'N Ravioli and Bourbon N'Brass — when the pandemic halted its business in March 2020.

Negotiations with property owner Fairway Evanston LLC resumed in April 2021, Evans told the committee the following month. Fairway Evanston is managed by Advantage Property Management, whose president is Highland Park City Councilmember Adam Stolberg.

The closing price on the property was $3 million, according to a Northlight spokesperson. In a statement, theater officials said the cost was paid through individual donors without financing from banks or other institution.

“This is a breakthrough moment in the 45-year history of Northlight," Evans said in a statement announcing the closure of the deal. "We have long sought a home of our own and the acquisition of the Church Street property allows Northlight to pursue its bold vision of building a world-class theatre complex in downtown Evanston, the vibrant and diverse community where we began."

According to a 2019 economic impact study, the theater will generate 115 new full-time jobs, $55 million in new spending over its first five years, and about $427,000 in city tax revenue over the next five years, despite being exempt from property taxes as a nonprofit. According to county records, the site generated about $120,000 in property taxes in 2019.

“Northlight’s move to Evanston is a beacon of economic hope to the downtown district," Evanston Economic Development Director Paul Zalmezak said in the release. "We will have this nationally respected professional theatre which is going to bring hundreds of visitors and artists every day and night to dine and shop. It will be a great cornerstone of our economic recovery and future sustainability.”

In addition to its own performances, Northlight leaders announced plans to hold daytime presentations, meetings and exhibits, and nighttime concerts, film festivals, readings and guest productions.

UPDATE: City Council Grants $2 Million In Federal Money To Northlight For New Theater

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Northlight presently partners with local social service organizations, including Evanston Township High School, Evanston/Skokie School District 65, CJE, Evanston Scholars, Family Focus, Levy Senior Center, McGaw YMCA, Youth Job Center, Y.O.U., YWCA Evanston/North Shore and Chicago Public Schools. Leaders of several of the theater's community partners released statements praising its partnership and the plan for the downtown facility, which will include a roof deck for use as a daytime education center.

“The expanded mission of the new Northlight will reflect the changing definition of how a cultural institution should interact and support the community,” Northlight Board President Mark McCarville said. “The welcoming new complex will act as a physical ‘public square’ for inclusive community gatherings and diverse conversations and events.”

In a May 24 letter to City Manager Erika Storlie requesting $2 million of the city's federal ARPA funding, Evans said the group qualified for a grant under the $1.9 trillion federal bill as a nonprofit, as an industry negatively affected by the pandemic, and as an educational organization that can expand accessibility to programs that aid in social, emotional and mental health of young people. Evans said the money would provide about 20 percent of the remaining money to complete construction.

"This infusion of capital," he said, "would accelerate our timeline and therefore the timeline for economic recovery which benefits the entire Evanston community."