Evanston Aldermen Reject Office Building On Lot Owned By City

EVANSTON, IL — Alderman rejected plans for an office tower on a city-owned parking lot over emotional pleas from the developer and some members of the Evanston City Council at a special meeting Monday.

The move leaves the city without the $4 million the city had expected to receive for the land at 1714-20 Chicago Avenue, the $2 million in estimated additional tax revenue or the 500 jobs that staff said the 13-story building could have added to downtown Evanston.

Despite the economic benefit, the Plan Commission, made up of appointed members, and the Design and Project Review Committee, made up of city staff, had both recommended against approval of the project.

Seven votes were needed for approval because the development required an amendment to the city's zoning map and the city had received a petition opposing the change from more than 30 percent of nearby residents.

It fell two votes short. Aldermen Peter Braithwaite, Judy Fiske, Cicely Fleming, Ann Rainey, Robin Rue Simmons voted in favor of the project. Aldermen Eleanor Revelle, Tom Suffredin, Don Wilson, Melissa Wynne voted against it.

"I think this is a great mistake to vote this down. I frankly do not understand it," Fiske said. She said nearby nonprofits who are exempt from property taxes "need to stop and understand what it is we are trying to do, that we have a city that depends on property tax revenue. We went through a painful budget process. We lost employees. We had to cut services. This is very hard. We're asking you and we have asked you from the beginning to come and partner with us on this. And I'm sorry that I thought we were there a couple of years ago but apparently we're not."

The proposal emerged following a request for proposals issued by the city in response to interest from developers. After the first was voted down in April 2017, aldermen approved a sales contract in September 2017.

The proposed height of the tower has fluctuated. It started with 14 stories, was reduced to 11 for the RFP, grew again to 13 and was last month cut again to 11 stories.

Developer Greg Stec, who appeared visibly upset as it became clear the plan would not receive the votes it needed, said the project was stronger than any of his previous projects.

"It's just striking to me that I feel like I'm a target, because when you enter into a contract there's a covenant of good faith," Stec said. "And I've been working in good faith for three years in this town."

Stec said he was used to contentious community meetings from building affordable housing and senior living facilities in Chicago and had compromised with city staff every step of the way.

Known by most as the library parking lot, the city-owned property is located in the midst of several historic locations. To its north is the local historic district, including the site of women's suffragist and Women's Christian Temperance Union leader Frances Willard's house. To its south is the 1912 Women's Club. Both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Fleming said she had only been to the Willard house once and never felt the need to go back.

"Because when I was raised with very progressive parents, I learned that Frances Willard's fight did not include black women, it included white women," she said. "And when suffrage was passed and women got the vote it was white women and she was happy to stop there." While Willard's temperance organization did include black members in the 1890s, she was sharply criticized by journalist and anti-lynching campaigner Ida B. Wells for perpetuating racist tropes that Wells said incited violence against black people.

Speaking in support of the office project, Fleming said concerns about parking were overblown. She said change is inevitable and compromise is essential.

"If every time something comes before us — an apartment building, affordable housing — this group of people come forward and they want to cite all the zoning laws and the history and whatever else and how great the city is, I don't know how great we can be if we oppose everything we personally don't like," Fleming said, noting she was just one of nearly 80,000 residents and there were plenty of things she didn't like around town. "If I wanted a city that operated just for me then I need to go buy land somewhere else and name it 'Cicelyville' and live there."

Opponents of the plan argued that the development was out of scale for the area, would create a dangerous alley and had inadequate parking.

Braithwaite said he was especially interested in the issue of alley safety. He said some people are shot and killed in alleys in his ward. The last fatal shooting in the 2nd Ward occurred in 2016. Braithwaite said he has asked for improved lighting and extra patrols and was surprised by the level of concern for the safety of the downtown alley on the site of the proposed office building.

"If there's such a concern about this alley, I regret the fact that I haven't heard those concerns prior to this discussion and I feel like as we talk about development the issue of parking comes up quite a bit," Braithwaite said. "There are some other things I would prioritize over that." He said he would be willing to walk a block or two for millions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of jobs that could potentially go to Evanston residents.

Wilson, who appeared to be a deciding vote in the March 18 discussion, had raised concerns about the developer's capacity to complete the project and earlier asked for a clause to be inserted into the deal for the property to revert back to city ownership if the development fell through.

"I don't think any of us would choose to intentionally make an existing situation worse, at least I don't think we would," Wilson said. "We're not writing a check here, but when we undertook this we were expecting a certain level, $5 million, we've cut that down trying to get it to fit the parameters. We did have two respondents who advised us they didn't think they could make it work, but we're making a significant zoning change so I think all of these points in conjunction with that are relevant and important."

Revelle said she also supported alley safety and appreciated the need to improve the city's tax base, but she could not support the building under city's zoning ordinance.

"In my view, I don't believe that the proposed development is, in fact, compatible with its landmark neighbors," Revelle said.

Wynne, who along with Revelle has opposed the plan from the start, noted that the Council required the developer of an apartment building at Main Street and Chicago Avenue to widen the alley and set the building back. She responded to Braithwaite by saying she would support making all of the city's alleys safer for everyone.

"We made that alley safer, an alley that is notoriously difficult," Wynne said. "And not to put too fine a point on it, someone was knifed to death in that alley shortly after I became alderman."

Rainey said she had initially opposed the plan but the design had been improved and Fiske had made her "see the light" and support the plan. She said no one should be concerned about daytime parking in the area.

"Any dentist who's in the Carlson Building has absolutely no concerns whatsoever about somebody being able to park. [Property owner] Cameel Halim, he has absolutely no concerns, neither does Celtic Knot for their lunch crowd because you cannot call their lunch patrons a 'crowd,'" Rainey said.

Rue Simmons said the city needed the tax revenue to avoid further burdening residents with taxes.

"If we want to continue to celebrate our diversity here in Evanston than some place, somewhere, we have to find some place to compromise and I am supporting this right now because of all the reasons of economic activity," Rue Simmons said. "I have calls from landowners that have received tax assessments more than 100 percent from last year, and those fees will be carried over to the families that are already having a hard time supporting staying here in Evanston. So I don't see where this property would have an impact from the Women's Center doing all the fantastic things that you have proposed."

Suffredin did not comment before voting against the development and did not immediately respond to a query about his reasoning.

"I'm taking a real good snapshot of the comments that were made and the people in the room," Braithwaite said. "Because this time come September or November, we're going to be arguing trying to figure out how we're going to save employees' jobs, how we're going to hopefully not cut necessary services to our vulnerable citizens who make our town so amazing and I just really hope that you remember what your vote is going to be this evening."

Earlier:

• Neighboring Condo Owners Delay Hearing On Evanston Office Tower
• Architect Submits Plans For Office Tower On Evanston Library Lot
• $4 Million Evanston Library Parking Lot Sale Moves Ahead
• Development Proposals Divide Evanston Council