The former Dairy Queen at 999 Howard St. in Evanston would be replaced with affordable housing for seniors under plans being developed by Evergreen Real Estate Group and CJE SeniorLife.
The plans also call for rehabilitating CJE’s existing adult day services facility at 1015 Howard.
CJE now operates four independent senior apartments, a retirement facility, an assisted living facility and a skilled nursing facility in Chicago, Skokie and Deerfield.
The proposed new development would have about 60 units of subsidized housing for independent seniors age 62 and older.
CJE’s Krasnow Residence in Skokie.
Perhaps the CJE facility most like the planned new development is the Krasnow Residence, completed in 1991 at 8901 Gross Point Road in Skokie, which provides 48 one-bedroom and studio apartments. All of CJE’s subsidized buildings currently have waiting lists.
Evergreen Real Estate Group is described as one of the most active affordable and mixed-income housing developers in Chicago.
Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, has scheduled a neighborhood meeting to discuss the proposal for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 8, at the Howard Street Theatre, 721 Howard.
Rainey says the project is at the very beginning of the development process. The developers are applying for financing through the Illinois Housing Development Authority and no applications for zoning approval to the city have been made yet.
Both the Dairy Queen and CJE properties have C1 Commercial District zoning, which does not permit residential uses, so the property would likely have to be rezoned for the new development.
Rainey says the developers will show some early design images of their plans and talk about the zoning process at the January meeting.
What no Preservation Committee support ?
I’d have expected the Committee to have been up in arms and wanted this declared a National Treasure. Where are the Friends of Dairy Queen ? Are they not trying to raise money from homes and businesses on Howard—and all of Evnaston—and get the Council to support the restoration !