Evanston aldermen are scheduled Monday to approve an agreement with Northwestern University under which the school will make annual voluntary payments in place of property taxes on land it may acquire in the Research Park zoning district.
The university earlier this year agreed to make voluntary payments of $350,000 a year for the Research Park office building it purchased at 1840 Oak Ave. and for homes it acquired at 2522 Orrington Ave. and 630 Clinton Place in northeast Evanston.
The memorandum of understanding up for approval Monday extends that model to any additional Research Park properties the school might acquire and specifies that in future years the amount of payments would be adjusted to match changes in the property tax levy.
Under terms of agreements entered into by NU and the city decades ago, sale of the 1840 Oak building to a non-profit would have required the city’s consent, but Corporation Counsel Grant Farrar told aldermen last March that a later agreement had lifted that requirement with regard to the 1840 Oak property.
The new agreement also provides that the city will redistribute to school districts 65 and 202 from the university’s payment their proportionate share of property tax payments that otherwise would be owed on the properties.
The Research Park district is located between the Metra and CTA tracks and runs from Emerson Street south to Davis Street.
In addition to the 1840 Oak building it acquired earlier this year, the university has long owned properties at 906-910 University Place and at 1801 Maple Ave. in Research Park as well as the large surface parking lot on University Place behind the Hilton Garden Inn.
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Farrar: 1840 Oak sate doesn’t require city OK (3/13/17)
NU buys 1840 Oak office building (2/13/17)