The Centrum Evanston at 1571 Maple Ave. (Google Maps image)

The owners of a downtown high-rise will ask city officials Tuesday to be relieved of an off-site parking requirement — saying they’ve filled the building without generating much parking demand.

Developers of the 101-unit Centrum Evanston building at 1571 Maple Ave. will tell the Design and Project Review Committee that with the building now 95% occupied, only six of the 55 off-site spaces the city requires them to lease at the Maple Avenue garage are being used by residents of the building.

The building has 11 on-site spaces available for tenant use overnight and two car-share spaces, and most tenants who want additional parking, the developers say, have found it themselves in parking lots closer to the building than the Maple Avenue garage.

The developers were originally required to lease 101 parking spaces at the city garage when the project was approved in 2015 , but that was reduced to 55 spaces in 2018.

The developers say they will continue to provide an annual vehicle ownership report to the city to track where tenants’ cars are being parked and continue to offer residents reduced membership rates for use of car-share vehicles.

The building is located close to the Davis Street Metra and CTA stations and also has what the developers say is ample bicycle parking “to support non-automobile dependent lifestyles.”

Bill Smith is the editor and publisher of Evanston Now.

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2 Comments

  1. Not sure why they wouldn’t change it to say “up to 55 spaces as needed, based on resident demand” or some such. Maybe that would make too much sense/offer too much flexibility?

  2. What does Centrum charge for a parking space? Maybe Centrum chages too much and the tenants find cheaper options, like on the street.

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