Ignoring major flaws in the plan for the 35 story luxury condominium project at 708 Church, six of the nine Aldermen on the Evanston City Council approved the project. The process that this project went through was flawed from the beginning. Some highlights of the process and results:

The Council Packet is available for download from the City of Evanston website. We have taken the pages related to the 708 Church proposal and broken them out into two separate documents for ease of downloading.

Part One consists of a City staff financial analysis of 708 Church, a report on the required retail parking component, a report of the public benefit bonuses that could be earned by the project under the newly approved Downtown Plan, and a City provided financial analysis on the proposed extension request from the developers.

Part Two consists of the currently amended ordinance before the Council.

With the public benefits (required under the Zoning Ordinance) of the proposed 35 story project at 708 Church continue to evaporate, the retiring City Council continues to push the project forward through the process. Is this the Evanston we can be proud of?

In a move that further erodes any possible benefits of the 708 Church proposal, the developer has submitted a request for a 5-year deadline to apply for building permits for the project. The request also asks for a 30 month time-frame for completing the project from the time the building permits are secured. If approved, this gives the developer until December 31, 2013 to apply for building permits and under the best circumstances until June 30, 2016 to complete construction.

As expected, the citizens of Evanston were once again ignored at the March 3 meeting of Planning & Development. Feeling compelled to "finish what they started", the Aldermen essentially sold the zoning for 708 Church to the development team of Klutznick and Anderson. In a carefully scripted playbook, the Council got their way and gave away valuable zoning in exchange for nothing but empty promises.

Please help Evanston residents kill the 708 Church Tower proposal.

The developers of 708 Church (Klutznick/Anderson) are at it again. This time, they are proposing a 35 story condo tower at 708 Church in the Fountain Square block.

Chair Moran announced that there will be a special meeting of Planning & Development to discuss the new proposal from the 708 Church development team. Alderman Bernstein asked for clarification that the project would be evaluated under the existing zoning since there is no current zoning under the adopted Downtown Plan. Moran affirmed that this was the case.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday March 3 at 6:00pm in Council Chambers.

The new proposal from Klutznick/Anderson is now available on the City of Evanston Website. You can download it here.

(February 21, 2009) ECRD has learned that the development team of Klutznick and Anderson has submitted a new proposal for a tower at 708 Church Street. As we expected, the new proposal is eerily similar to the changes the Council hastily made to the Downtown Plan adopted last week. In a questionable move, Alderman Moran has requested a "Special Meeting" of Planning & Development on Thursday February 26. Whether this special meeting date will be changed or abandoned will be a subject of discussion at the regularly schedule Planning & Development meeting on Monday February 23 at 6:30pm. It is clear that Alderman Moran and several others who support the excessive height and density in the Fountain Square block sense an urgency in granting special consideration to the Klutznick team. Why the rush? How did the new proposal reach the City within two weeks of the passing of the questionable downtown plan? Is there a reason why this needs to be approved before the new Council is seated?