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Originally Posted by forumly_chgoman
Oh and by the way the notion that halting this construction would harm affordable housing is laughable......at least as far as I know.....if I am wrong I am sorry....but I do not believe this development has any set asides for affordable housing. Just look at Sherman Plaza across the street.
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this development would not include any on-site affordable housing units, but the developers will be required to donate money to evanston's affordable housing fund to get out of the affordable housing requirement, just as was done with sherman plaza across the street and all other recent highrise residential developments in downtown evanston. the effectiveness of those affordable housing funds is certainly up for debate.
as for the other issue about large developments and small independent retailers, it's important to note that the local business owner who spoke up in favor of the project at the plan commission meeting was the owner of Lulu's restaruant, a small, independent, locally-owned, non-chain restaurant. so clearly not everyone in the small-business owners community is on the same page regarding large developments and their business's financial well-being.
also, the point raised by one of the opposition speakers about evanston needing more office space instead of residential space is irrelevant when you consider that residential projects in downtown evanston have all met with good success while at the same time there is a completely vacant office building that's only about 10 years old on the northside of downtown. evanston will simply never be a significant suburban commercial office center like schaumburg, rosemont, or oak brook because it is much to far away from convenient expressway access.