Illinois town is torn over proposed tower

In this upscale city just north of Chicago, a plan to build a skyscraper -- one nearly as tall as the Washington Monument -- has fueled more than a simple debate over urban planning.

To many residents, the idea is outright heresy.

For more than a year, community members and city officials in this eclectic university town have been embroiled in a fierce dispute over whether to ease zoning restrictions and greenlight the construction of a 49-story retail and luxury condominium complex in the heart of the tree-lined, low-slung downtown just a few blocks off Lake Michigan.

If built, the slender rectangle of steel and glass would be nearly twice the height of the town’s next-tallest building.

Some see a tower rising from the city center as the next evolutionary step for this old-line suburb of 75,000. The plan comes at a time when there’s intense pressure for the city to generate more revenue to fund the growing demand for local services while easing the bite of rising property taxes.

Project advocates say financial boosts in recent years have come from new lofts and condominiums, which have helped revitalize this landlocked community. All the while, a growing number of national retail outlets have drawn city dwellers to the town’s quaint shops and expansive movie entertainment center.

“Evanston is already a microcosm of a major downtown,” said James Klutznick, one of the developers proposing the skyscraper project. “It has an urban center.” The high-rise, Klutznick said, would serve as an elegant icon and allow growth in a place where there’s little room to expand -- except upward.

To critics, the skyscraper plan represents all the woes of big-city life -- including a possible increase in traffic congestion and the specter of small local businesses being driven out by high-end retail chains -- the very things residents say they moved to Evanston to avoid.

“We could become known for a skyscraper, like a mini Chicago,” said resident Coleen Burrus, a former fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and a member of the city’s Planning Commission.

“It would be like someone building a skyscraper in the middle of Marin, [Calif.], instead of San Francisco. People are as outraged here as they would be there.”

Many residents side with Burrus.

Johanna Nyden, an urban planner who is also a member of the city’s Planning Commission, has long adored her hometown’s elegant landscape of stately brick homes and faded turn-of-the-century storefronts that house locally owned shops and corner cafes.

Evanston, incorporated in 1863, has grown up alongside the campus and culture of Northwestern University and has a skyline that is distinctly low- and mid-rise.

Part of Evanston’s appeal, said Nyden, is the absence of towering buildings that dominate the Chicago coastline. The proposed tower could reshape her hometown’s identity, she said -- and not for the better.

“We’re proud of the fact that when you walk along the downtown streets, you don’t feel like you’re walking through a valley of glass and steel,” said Nyden. “If you want skyscrapers, you go to Chicago, not Evanston.”

Klutznick and developer Tim Anderson were finishing up a nearby condo tower project in downtown Evanston in 2006 when they approached the city with their idea to transform the triangular 700 block of Church Street in the heart of downtown.

As part of the project, the pair plans to purchase and tear down a two-story retail building at 708 Church St. Built in 1923, it is home to more than 100 offices and small businesses.

Though the proposed skyscraper would have retail space carved out on the street level, many of the current retailers say they doubt they could afford to stay. Among them is Michael Lembeck, who owns a shoe store on the block.

“I’ve been looking for other commercial space, but there’s not a lot available that is affordable in town these days,” said Lembeck. “We’re all waiting to see what the city’s decision is going to be.”

In December, the project narrowly gained the approval of Evanston’s planning commissioners. This month, the City Council’s planning and development committee -- which includes all nine members of the town council -- will hear the formal pitch by Klutznick and Anderson and weigh their bid to have the city rezone the block’s height limit.

They will also hold a special hearing mid-month to listen to public reaction. At a recent committee meeting, Alderwoman Anjana Hansen tried to soothe a crowd of more than 100 residents eager to denounce the project.

“Nothing is going to happen overnight,” Hansen said. “And before any decision is made, we expect a lot of debate over this.”

For residents like Chris Ernst, who is organizing protests and spearheading the Evanston Coalition for Responsible Development, the fight is just beginning.

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p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com