Rock Climbing Wall Could Join 'Rightsized' Evanston Theater

EVANSTON, IL — The developer under contract to purchase Church Street Plaza plans to bring about a dozen new businesses to downtown Evanston by subdividing and leasing out vacant spaces in the three-building commercial development.

As part of the project, Evanston's only commercial movie theater is set to reopen as soon as the holiday season — under new management and with fewer screens.

Six screens in the theater formerly known as Century 12 Evanston/CinéArts 6 will be split off and combined with a portion of the space recently vacated by an Urban Outfitters store, according to the developer.

"We'll have one nice open space for a different user," said Mitch Goltz, co-founder and principal of GW Properties. "We're working with several rock climbing companies and other recreation/entertainment concepts to take that newly created space."

Among the interested rock climbing companies is First Ascent, which had been set to open in the recycling center at James Park as part of the most recent abortive development proposal for the site.

Goltz, of Glencoe, told Patch that the sale of the property is due to close by the end of November, and that the theater operator who has committed to taking it over plans to get it operational as soon as possible before undertaking any serious upgrades or renovations.

"People want to get back to the theater," he said. "So they want to get open first, and then over time they can make any changes they want to the individual theaters."

The theater has been shuttered since last year. Its former operator, Cinemark, ended its lease due to a clause that permitted its termination if a government makes it "illegal to operate a motion picture complex."

A judge found Gov. J.B. Pritzker's executive orders last year did just that after the owner of the site, San Francisco-based Stockbridge Capital Group, sued the theater chain in a case that was dismissed in June.

Related: Evanston Cinemark Movie Theater Closes After Escaping Lease

Stockbridge purchased the property for $70 million in 2013 from local firm Arthur Hill & Co., which developed the site in the 1990s after arranging a subsidy agreement with the city, according to Crain's Chicago Business. The price GW Properties has agreed to pay has not been publicly disclosed, but it is expected to be significantly lower.

Evanston Economic Development Manager Paul Zalmezak said the reopening of the movie theater is one of his department's top priorities. He said he believes plans to upgrade the theater and consider experiential business in vacant space are on the right track.

"I'm trying to make the case that we need to make sure that we're prioritizing it, and I don't think it's a hard case to make. It's just a matter of making sure we have staff understanding what's happening and assigned and making it a priority," Zalmezak said.

"We've got to get this shopping center up at full capacity again, generate some sales tax, get people excited again. People are really upset about the theater closing, I think it just really hurt the spirit of the community," he said. "I think it's going to be a boost. I think people are going to feel good about it."

With the closure of the theater and the Urban Outfitters clothing store, Church Street Plaza is more than half vacant, according to a listing for the approximately 180,000-square-foot development from commercial real estate broker CBRE.

According to the listing, Northwestern Medicine's lease for nearly 17,400 square feet of the site currently extends through 2023, but the health care provider "has expressed a desire to expand their square footage by 4,046 SF and extend their term through 2033."

Goltz said the movie theater space is not the only one he is planning on subdividing to meet the demands of the current retail market.

"The building itself has really good bones, and it's a great property. I think COVID and other market elements have caused some of the vacancy at the center, and I think that to properly bring this back to the life that it once had, spaces have to be reconfigured," he added. "It takes a local retail expert and developer to better understand the needs of tenants today, how to best adapt the building to those users."

The developer said there are currently 11 tenants across the buildings, with plans to expand to 20 when fully leased next year. Goltz said seven of the new spaces are already spoken for with various levels of commitment, including by restaurants, service retail and "some other interesting and fun uses," he said.

Recent changes to Evanston City Code allow some businesses to open after an expedited administrative review instead of a 60- to 75-day zoning review.

Zalmazek said opening new businesses in the movie theater and rock climbing would not require special use permits, although any business serving food is subject to health department licensing and inspections and any renovations would require building permits. He told Patch city staff have kept in close contact with the brokers and purchasers ahead of closing.

"We have been guiding them on upcoming City processes related to zoning reviews for new businesses and making sure they connect with buildings department for permits and the like," he said. "We have also been encouraging the future ownership to consider ways of activating the property to be more integrated with the rest of downtown."

Goltz said the reopening of the theater and other parts of the project will improve the fortunes of all businesses in the area.

"I think it's been unfortunate for everybody involved and around the site to have the site in the state that it's in. So our goals are to bring this back to life like it once was, and we think we can bring in some new elements that weren't there before that will bring even additional life. And I think by rightsizing the movie theater to the appropriate amount of screens in today's market, that's allowing us the opportunity to bring in another anchor to draw to the project in the community, such as a rock climbing or other entertainment-type use," Goltz said.

"All these tenants will be able to feed off one another," the developer added, "because being near a theater brings people coming to your doors that wouldn't necessarily be there otherwise. "