Evanston aldermen tonight are scheduled to review plans for a 17-story, age-restricted apartment development proposed for what’s now a parking lot at 1727 Oak Ave. downtown.
The building, with 169 apartment units and 136 parking spaces, received a favorable recommendation from the Plan Commission on a 6-1 vote last month.
Developer Trammell Crow is seeking site development allowances for the number of units and the building’s height.
The building is proposed to be 176 feet tall. Under the city’s zoning code it could be as tall as 210 feet with site development allowances.
The parking lot formerly served the adjacent 1007 Church St. office building, but city officials say that building will still meet city parking requirements — because it has 300 spaces available in the parking garage that’s part of the Sienna Court condo development across the street and is only required to have 294 parking spaces.
The nw building would have 26 studio apartments, 91 one-bedroom units and 52 two-bedroom units. Apartments would range in size from 569 to 1,245 square feet.
Some residents of Sienna Court have claimed that parking for the new development is inadequate and that it would create traffic congestion, but a parking and traffic study submitted by the developer says it won’t have an adverse impact.
The developer has agreed to provide 17 studio and/or one-bedroom units in the development as on-site affordable housing for 25 years. Four units would be affordable to persons earning no more than 50 percent of area median income, five units at 60 percent and eight units at 80 percent of AMI.
No pride of ownership in apartments
There are a lot of new apartment buildings that have been built in Evanston in the past several years. What will they look like in 20 years of wear and tear from tenants?
Apartments are never kept up like condos. There is no pride of ownership in apartments.
Just sayin…
Know any developers?
Hi Al,
You know any developers who want to build condos?
I’m sure city officials would love to talk to them.
— Bill
Still no effort to incentivize Condos til hand-off to new Board
Anon Al… maybe at least we can feel a bit better thru those 20 years of wear & tear by remembering that this new wave of luxury rentals will be attracting the non-Dem voters from other towns and states? Truly, a Plus… if only for 20yrs?
MORE CONDOS!!!
LESS LUXURY RENTALS!!!
Developers should be asked
It might be a good idea for the Council to ask developers if they would build condos if there was no Affordable Housing requirement or fine.
The city does not seem to be reticent to survey everything else. Maybe the results would tell them something.
Then again the Council does not seem to want condos or rentals unless they can be appeased with Affordable Housing units—which seems to be their main purpose in life.
You can lead a heart to love…
…but you can’t make it fall” (g. strait, 1994)
Guest (above): And no exclusively Marxist city council in or out of Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Evanston with exclusive focus upon one particular socio-economic class will ever have nor successfully acquire the finite resources to house an aggregate of homelessness crossing stateliness with intent to stay. How do you make taxpayers want to subsidize city councils with pet project & Good Buddy wish lists passed around from city council to city council over decades like a box of popcorn? Did I mention that I hate ’em?
They have no focus
Despite what I said, Evanston Council [and residents] have no focus.
They want lots of Affordable Housing [hit–Evanston is NOT affordable thanks to bad decisions], a university town [as much as they hate NU [in the past Kendall, Lewis]] NU is here to stay and think of Evanston without NU], retirement community, place for wealthy [to pay taxes], housing for commuters [but not for jobs to keep income in Evanston], manufacturing free, service community [but only so long than we will tax you out], integrated [yea sure—words but little action], hot spot for Preservationist who want everything like in 1900] and many more things. Add to that pension costs, infrastructure costs, a one part State and City “a chicken in every pot” government, and you have a recipe for failure.
How many cities the size of Evanston can do all this ? Then add borders with Chicago, CTA and Metra that allow criminals easy access to Evanston.
The Council and unfortunately many resident can’t see the problems—they want everything for everyone and for free [State and Federal and the “Money Tree”] funding it.
Affordable housing
After 20 years of tenant wear and tear, the units become affordable housing. Indeed, that’s how most affordable housing is created.
Affordable, but not “Affordable”
In 20 years, the luxury rentals built around town will no longer be new and the apartments may be more affordable, but that won’t make them “Affordable Housing.” “Affordable Housing” is largely income-restricted, subsidized housing for people with incomes below the poverty line. “Affordable Housing” policies are not about making housing more affordable for middle class and working class people. And they aren’t restricted to the people of Evanston.
The smartest thing homeless and housing advocates did was promote the term “Affordable Housing.” It sounds so reasonable. Who doesn’t want housing to be more affordable? “Affordable Housing” is much more palatable than “Low Income Subsidized Housing for the Poor and Homeless People of Chicago that will be funded by your increased rents, taxes and fees.”
Affordable housing–a nice way to say urban decay?
Wrong.
Too many rentals can cause property values to stagnate and could lead to neighborhood decline.
Using your argument, there is a lot of affordable housing in Detroit– a city that fell into decay in large part to poor government policy and planning. I don’t think it’s a good idea to create affordable housing by way of property wear and tear or urban blight.
Just sayin…
Affordable housing Harley Clarke SRO $2 Beds (nightly)…
…with 99 bed availability for those in and out of Evanston at this time who don’t manage to beat the city council Good Buddies into a relatively scant amount of affordable apartment units in the new luxury rental buildings before their slide down to 20 years of wear and tear. All of this in our already manipulated and stifled lower end condo market of 1BR unit owners STILL afraid to sell with STILL no where in Evanston to go. And when 99 SRO $2 beds at Harley Clarke will no long do, come enjoy our re-zoning for single-wide and double-wide housing rolled in to a new plot plan (say) East or West of Dodge. Come from anywhere! We’ll leave a (sanctuary city) on for you. We are Evanston. And…
“When there’s Welcome on your forehead, the feet aren’t far behind” (k. mason, 1977)
Evanston
Evanston, love it or leave it!