Support much needed new housing in Evanston!

Mayor Daniel Biss

Legacy Evanston

A new 15 story apartment building, including 10 on-site affordable housing units, has been proposed at 1621 Chicago Ave., in the heart of downtown Evanston. The site is in what is known as a “TOD” district, or transit-oriented district, due to its excellent proximity to public transit, its walkability and ability to bring people, activities, buildings and public spaces together. The construction is entirely financed by private capital, bringing new homes to the community without using any taxpayer dollars.

Key project highlights:

  • Replaces an underutilized single-story retail building.
  • Brings over 200 residents to Evanston's downtown, creating more customers for struggling downtown businesses and more tax revenue for the city.
  • Brings desperately-needed affordable homes to a ward that currently does not have a single affordable housing unit in a market rate building.
  • Located within two blocks of the Davis Street CTA Purple Line station and the Evanston Metra station, as well as numerous bus routes, making it extremely friendly for public transit users and greatly reducing the carbon footprint of its residents.
  • Located a short walk away from Northwestern University.
  • LEED Gold building with a reasonable 0.33 parking ratio and ample EV charging.

Additional building impacts can be found here.

Despite having checked all the boxes with a development proposal that fits squarely within the building code allowances, the proposal has been turned down thrice. Vocal opposition focuses on how "the structure would "look out of place" to fear mongering about congestion.

The City of Evanston has committed to providing affordable housing and said that the creation of affordable housing must be given priority as a matter of public policy. Evanston's wealthiest residents should not be allowed to singlehandedly block the construction of desperately-needed housing units in their neighborhood. Let's show that you believe in welcoming new neighbors by signing our petition, joining the one by Legacy Evanston and sending a letter of support for the project.

To: Mayor Daniel Biss
From: [Your Name]

I am writing to express my strong support for the proposed construction at 1621 Chicago Ave. The construction provides market rate AND on-site affordable housing in downtown Evanston. Both aspects of the proposed building add critical housing capacity for Evanstonians at all income levels at a time when our residents continue to struggle with runaway increases in housing costs, and too little new supply of housing options.

The proximity of this location to the Davis Street Transit Center--and along the region's most comprehensive protected bike lane network on Chicago Ave--makes it especially critical to support housing on this site. Increasing the amount of much needed housing close to public transit will ensure existing and future residents of downtown Evanston will be able to live near where they work, support neighboring businesses, and reduce their carbon footprint, all clearly defined elements of Evanston's Climate Action and Resilience Plan.

We are concerned that specious arguments about the building looking "out of character" or new residents causing "congestion" are being prioritized over the clear economic, environmental and ethical case for bringing much needed housing to the City of Evanston. Moreover, this block should be providing an example for how Evanston can keep evolving: ground floor commercial space in neighboring residential buildings like Park Evanston, a grocery store at the corner, expanding and popular third spaces like Joy Yee and Prairie Moon. Nevertheless, it also serves to caution what happens if these opportunities aren't acted upon: skyrocketing costs and undue tax burdens on cherished but priced-out locally owned businesses like Found and Golden Olympic. This project not only adds additional residents and customers to this corridor, but maintains commercial space to keep it vibrant as well.

We hope that you will add your support to this project and request that the Land Use Commission reconsider their decision.