EVANSTON | 708 Church St. (Fountain Square Tower) | 409 FT| 35 FLOORS
 

here's the current rendering. 385'/35 floors

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/7809/708church.jpg








outdated images of older versions of this tower and of the now defunct Horner/HSA proposal for the same block.



here's the previous design when the tower was planned to be 421'/38 floors

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/2243/comm202ma6.jpg




Klutznik/Focus - original proposal - 523'/49 floors

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/871...7092917yw9.jpg

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/5...retowermo6.jpg http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8...etower2ld6.jpg http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/9...etower3ck9.jpg


http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/2...nsquarejy9.jpg



Horner/HSA - 421'/37 floors - now a dead proposal

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/7...toweriipw5.jpg





photoshopped together:

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2...ombinedxp3.jpg

Wouldn't be surprised if this gets knocked down to the 30-435 story range

The design is nothing spectacular, but being in Evanston it is quite significant.

i wouldn't be surprised if it gets nixed altogether, afterall evanston's official city motto is "progress without change". ;)



design-wise, it's light-years beyond the previous roczak proposal for the site. after seeing this, i'm overjoyed that one died on the vine.

Legacy anyone?

Looks just like it from this angle, probably doesn't have the sweet setback pattern on the backside though. Its supposed to have th wedge shape like Legacy as well...

indeed, there is some similarity. and with booth hansen at the helm, i'd expect this to have a high quality facade treatment. perhaps it's nothing earth-shattering in the form department, but i think this one would turn out pretty damn nice. let's all hope evanston isn't stupid and demand that the project be dumbed down.

one question though. in the rendering, the existing 8 story fountain square building appears to be out of the picture for an expanded public square, yet there's no mention of its demo in the article. we don't have all the facts here.

Evanston is just too damn liberal when it comes to allowing others to be part of the governing process. They have to appease and satisfy the demands of every little interest group in town, whether it be northwestern, transit users, car users, affordable housing advocates, preservationists, or whoever. So good projects become crappy projects or get scrapped all together because some small minority is in opposition.

As frustrating as Evanstonian NIMBYs are, you surely aren't giving adequate "respect" where it's due in Oak Park and Hyde Park. Evanston is practically Dubai compared to those places.

This could actually happen in a form similar to what is proposed, the word seems to be that "if there's gonna be a skyscraper in Evanston, it would be right here"

I think those place are better examples of "capture" by a particular interest group (also see west loop gate). My view of Evanston is slightly more positive. Evanston government is well intentioned just misguided.

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/6373/29351494dq5.jpg

What!?! Didn't see that one coming nor would I have ever guessed in my wildest dreams that a building like that would go up in Evanston.

I think that building looks fantastic especially in that location.

Good, the cat's out of the bag. This is the project I mentioned a while back.

Concerning the corner building, it absolutely would be coming down.

You are correct - with Booth-Hansen involved, it's going to be a very pleasant and well-detailed tower.

If they're going to allow all of this stuff to be demolished, I sincerely hope it doesn't get scaled down into a bland version of itself at present.

thanks for clearing that up. at least in this scheme it appears as though the hahn building will remain intact and "un-facedomized", and that's wonderful news as the hahn building is by far the nicest of the 3 exisiting buildings on the block.

Actually, I think that tower is pretty good.

Hard to tell from the little render though.

just for reference, here's an image of the now defunct 38-story Roszak proposal for the fountain sqaure block:

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6...retowerwu8.jpg


i have to say that this new scheme is a significant improvement upon the old plan.

Nice one Steely... sorta like "X" condo. Both cities have obvious references.

There's hope for Clayton (Evanston's peer city) after all. If Evanston can go this tall, then so can Clayton.

Great looking project!!

Is it just me or does anyone else, aside from height, like that Roszak version better?

it's just you. the roszak plan was far worse from a preservation aspect, facedomizing the hahn building into the incredibly cheezy-looking white metal panel retail podium structure. what's even worse is the the ground level retail of the hahn building would have been obliterated for parking, meaning that the facade of the hahn building would have masked a parking gararge, even at the ground level! that would have been truly awful form an urban design standpoint. as for the towers, the only thing superior about the roszak scheme is that it would have mixed in a hotel with the condo uses, as opposed to the straight condo tower in the new scheme. being the absolute heart of downtown evanston, i would have liked to have seen more mixing of uses, but what can you do, i'll gladly settle for a nicely detailed 500' condo tower with ground floor retail and full preservation for the landmarked hahn building.

plus, if you're familair with the works of booth hansen and roszak ADC, there should be absolutely no surprise as to why i have FAR more confidence in the former to design an execute a new building befitting the title of "evanston's tallest".

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/6373/29351494dq5.jpg
Perhaps it's just the watercolor rendering, but I really like it, I think it's very attractive and a definite centerpiece for downtown Evanston.

Now there's going to be a skyscraper compition between the Chicagoland suburbs :shrug:

http://www.equityoffice.com/images/OAKBROO2_251.jpg

Sorry if I am being ignorant here, but what building is that?

That's the helmut jahn designed, 415 ft. oak brook terrace tower, which currently holds the title of suburban chicago's tallest building. if you've ever ridden down the tri-state, you've passed this building. it's right around the area where the ike interchanges with the tri-state, just north of oakbrook mall. and because it sticks out like such a sore thumb, it's impossible to miss.

Ah! Thanks, I guess I was being a bit ignorant! Such a quick response!

wow, this looks great for a suburban skyscraper. but ill believe it when i see it.

evanstonnow.com has now posted an article about this development that explains some of the TIF ramifications of this proposal in relation to getting funding to rebuild the fountain square plaza, which is currently in a state of unsightly disrepair. click the link below to read about it:

http://www.evanstonnow.com/node/2270

http://www.equityoffice.com/images/OAKBROO2_251.jpg
Interesting minor side note about this building: you can't really tell from pictures or just by looking at it, but a St. Engineer I know, echoed by a few others in the industry have told me that either due to poor structural engineering, unstable soils, whatever, the building is actually LEANING on one end. I'm not sure if anything has been done to correct it, or if anything is planned for the future, and to be honest I'm not sure if it's just an urban myth (sub-urban myth?) but knowing Murphy/Jahn's reputation for (at times) shoddy coordination with consultants, I wouldn't doubt it.

I wouldn't really consider Evanston "suburban". It may be a suburb, but it doesn't neatly fit into the traditional city/suburb divide. It's certainly more dense than an average American city and is probably as dense as areas like Hyde Park. Especially if we exclude the couple of blocks on the Evanston/Wilmette border.

well, yea. its obviously not naperville or hoffman estates. but its still cool to see something this tall planned that far north.

ive always liked that building, if for nothing else, being such a unique feature on the landscape.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...l=chi-news-hed

ARCHITECTURE

523-foot tower in Evanston?
Proposed 49-story condo building would nearly double the height of the town's current tallest

By Blair Kamin and Deborah Horan
Tribune staff reporters
Published April 26, 2007, 7:32 PM CDT


Forget the twisting 2,000-foot-high Chicago Spire that could rise along the city's lakefront.

Developers went public Thursday with a plan for another race to the sky, this one in downtown Evanston: a condominium tower that would crack the 500-foot barrier and become the tallest building in Chicago's suburbs.

Sure to incite heated debate in a suburb already in the throes of a high-rise building boom, the plan calls for tearing down a two-story retail building on a triangular block bounded by Church Street, Orrington Avenue and Sherman Avenue and replacing it with a sliver-thin 49-story condominium tower sheathed in glass and metal.

At 523 feet, the height pegged in a filing with Evanston officials by developers James Klutznick and Tim Anderson, the skyscraper would soar nearly twice as high as two neighboring towers that form the peaks of the Evanston skyline.

"It's the suburban Spire," quipped the project's architect, Laurence Booth of the Chicago firm Booth Hansen, referring to the plan by Dublin-based developer Garrett Kelleher to erect a 150-story tower designed by Zurich-based architect Santiago Calatrava on Chicago's lakefront.

Filed more than a week ago and shopped in closed sessions to city officials, the Evanston proposal underscores how developers around the country are shattering the once-distinct line between cities and suburbs. The trend is especially strong in landlocked suburbs that have nowhere to grow but up if they want to increase their tax base and hold down residential property tax bills.

Yet the shift has sparked passionate debates over traffic, the displacement of local retailers by national chains and the loss of what opponents call their shady-street lifestyle. As city leaders reacted to the skyscraper plan, that tension was palpable.

"I don't know where we can go in Evanston but up because we don't have any land," said Ald. Delores Holmes. "But it is pretty tall."

If built, the Evanston skyscraper would easily top the 418-foot Oakbrook Terrace Tower, currently the titleholder in Chicago's suburbs, and could lay claim to being the tallest building between Chicago and Milwaukee. That esoteric distinction is now held by Evanston's tallest building, the 277-foot Chase Building, a modernist high-rise finished in 1969.

Klutznick, a partner at Klutznick Fisher Development Co., and Anderson, president of Focus Development Inc., are now completing the nearby Sherman Plaza condo tower, which is just a foot shorter at 276 feet.

But the block in question has a height limit of 125 feet, so the developers, who say they have a contract to purchase the two-story retail building, will need a zoning change.

As in other large-scale residential real estate developments, they also will need to generate enough pre-sales of condominiums to get bank financing. Most daunting of all, they will have to persuade Evanstonians to reshape their skyline—and, with it, the town's identity.

Evanston officials previously forced developer and architect David Hovey to downsize a proposed 36-story tower at the north end of downtown and instead build a blocklong 16-story building that some have likened to an enormous wall.

Anticipating such a debate, Klutznick said in an interview: "This is absolutely the center of town. People recognize that if there's going to be height, this is where to do it."

He added: "This is an icon that says this is the downtown of the north lakefront," referring to how downtown Evanston already draws people from nearby suburbs such as Wilmette and from the Far North Side of Chicago.

Michael Lembeck, the owner of a shoe store in the targeted two-story building on Church, sees the proposal in a far less positive light.

Saying that his business, Williams Shoes—the Walking Spirit, has been at 708 Church St. for 54 years, he lamented that he had bought the space next door last year and turned it into a women's boutique at a cost of $120,000.

"Now 10 months later, they're talking about tearing the whole building down," he said Thursday. "That would be kind of a waste to be shut down before we recoup our investment."

He also expressed concern that downtown Evanston already has too many vacant storefronts and that it won't be able to absorb the commercial space envisioned in the project.

As designed by Booth Hansen, whose projects include the conversion of the landmark Palmolive Building on North Michigan Avenue to condominiums and new high-rise dormitories for the School of the Art Institute at Randolph and State Streets, the skyscraper would have a roughly triangular, or flatiron, shape formed by the surrounding streets.

It would rise on a five-story podium that would contain two levels of shops and, above them, a three-level parking garage with 230 spaces. The glassy condominium tower, set back from the street, would contain anywhere from two to seven units on each of its floors. Prices would be $350 to $400 per square foot, the developers said.

The plan also envisions tearing down a 1940s mid-rise office building at the block's south end and replacing it with a low-rise restaurant building whose footprint would be half as large. The developers still have to purchase that property.

A classically decorated landmark building in the middle of the block, the three-story Hahn Building, would be left untouched.

The developers say that the added real estate taxes created by the project would allow the city to renovate the decrepit Fountain Square Plaza at the block's south end. The plaza's war memorial, which now consists of three brick pylons recognizing Evanston soldiers, would be shifted to another plaza just south of Davis Street.

The developers want to begin construction next year and complete their project by late 2010.

City zoning officials are reviewing the plan, a process expected to take at least two weeks. The next steps would be a hearing by the Evanston Plan Commission and a vote by the City Council. The developers said they anticipate public meetings on the tower in June.

Asked if she thought Evanston residents would fight the tower, Ald. Cheryl Wollin, in whose ward the project would be built said: "Nothing in Evanston is non-controversial. I expect it to be thoroughly debated."

Wollin declined to say whether the tower is too tall, saying: "I can't make that judgment now. If there's any place for height in the city, that's the block where it would be most compatible. Is it too tall? That will have to be determined by lots of discussion."

If built in downtown Chicago, the tower would fade into the woodwork. It would be the same height as a classic 1920s skyscraper along Wacker Drive—the eclectic, dome-topped 35 E. Wacker Dr. (the former Jewelers Building).

Asked if Evanston planners would follow a national trend in urban planning that gives preference to tall and thin towers on the grounds that they create the density that makes cities hum while letting natural light reach streets below, Klutznick replied: "I would never say that Evanston is influenced by anybody other than Evanston."

bkamin@tribune.com

dhoran@tribune.com


http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...4/29351494.jpg

This is an artist's rendering of the proposed 49-story Fountain Square condo tower in Evanston. If the 523-foot tower is built it would be the tallest building in Chicago's suburbs.
Apr 25, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...4/29355128.jpg

This is how Fountain Square in Evanston currently looks.
(Tribune photo by Chris Walker)
Apr 26, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...4/29356815.jpg

Mike Lembeck (left) and Richard Iverson stand outside Williams Shoes at 708 Church St. in Evanston, where Lembeck is owner of the store and Iverson is his assistant. Lambeck's thumb-down gesture is to express his lack of approval for the new building plan. The shoe store would be razed if the condo tower is approved.
(Tribune photo by Chris Walker)
Apr 26, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...4/29356820.jpg

Optima Towers in Evanston.
(Tribune photo by Chris Walker)
Apr 26, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...4/29355129.jpg

Oak Brook Terrace Tower, at 31 floors, is currently the tallest skyscraper in the Chicago suburbs. This photo was taken in 1988.
Apr 26, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...4/29355133.jpg

Optima Towers in Evanston
(Tribune photo by Chris Walker)
Apr 26, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...4/29355130.jpg

Yup...that is my "local" skyscraper...even though its significantyly NW of me.

I'm not a huge fan of skyscrapers outside of the urban core. However, I support this proposal. Evanston has always represented Chicago in small scale to me, with its urban downtown, public transportation, lakefront, original Marshall Fields and even its own slum. Evanston is the only lakefront suburb north of Chicago which could or should have skyscrapers.

....and I don't consider Waukegan a suburb!

I'd rather the office districts of Northbrook, Deerfield, Buffalo Grove etc in the I-94/294 corridors actually had highrises in something somewhat resembling a 'core' (thinking like Clayton, for example) as opposed to sprawlariffic office parks.

But they don't have an original downtown core to begin with and that's why they developed in that manner. Evanston, Oak Park, Joliet, Elgin have downtownsn so I can see skyscrapers and TODs.

the problem with a place like clayton is that, while it has a nice skyline, it competes directly with downtown st. louis because it does offer a somewhat urban major commercial office district outside of the city, something that none of the major suburban office centers in chicagoland offer. the reason i'm totally cool with evanston's skyline expansion is that it is in no way, shape, or form a threat to the continued vitality of downtown chicago's office market.

This does seem like a pretty good proposal. I wouldn't be surprised if that building on the south stays however, since it has nothing to do with the tower.

And I don't like the thought of established retail being squashed, so I hope the shoestore can be moved. Didn't the article say there's a bit of vacant commercial space available? They should be able to move the store then.
I know in Palatine when Block 31 was redeveloped, the city financially helped a bar and restaurant relocate to other downtown sites, and I think they used TIF funds for it.

But this tower looks good. After Chicago, Evanston is my favorite place to go for walks. The extra streetlife will be nice.

This is true. I've actually heard locals describe Clayton as St. Louis' "white downtown" as terrible as that is. It directly competes with downtown St. Louis and as far as corporate presence is concerned, well, it's winning.

Evanston's highrises proposed are residential so there is no real competition.

that's not true. please read the evanstonnow.com article. this tower proposal is being "sold" to the city along with the plan to demolish the exisitng fountain square building as an opportunity for the city to FINALLY get the ball rolling on rebuilding the long-dilapitated fountain sqaure plaza. that part of the project is not directly related to the tower propsal, but they're being packaged together by the developer to sweeten the pot. as Tim Anderson of Focus Development said himself, "This (the tower proposal) can be the financial engine to support acquisition of the Fountain Square building to expand the plaza and make an outdoor living room for downtown Evanston".

Is that shoe store guy giving the tower a thumbs down as the caption says? From the way his hand is oriented, it looks more like he's giving the tower a sidways thumb, lol. Maybe he's not entirely against the tower if he can still maintain his business in a good downtown location?

I would love to see this tower come to fruition. The height would be incredible for downtown Evanston.

SD not sure if I completely agree with this assesment. Two prominent examples come to mind....the Sears move in the early nineties out to Hoffman Estates, and the recent move by Sara Lee to I believe Downers Grove. Additionally, there are several other large corps whose HQ's or main metro places of business are out in the burbs....McD's , Kraft, Abbot, Lucent, Motorola just to name a few.

I would prefer if these companies would move these operations DT...simply because it would bring more 'prestige' to the DT are...whatever corp prestige means.....and perhaps would help spur the further development of a couple or a few major towers.....
.....instead they are stuck out in office parks that in some sense do directly comepete for corporate investment with the Loop etc

uhhhh, yeah, i don't disagree with any of that,. i would love it if every major chicagoland corporation moved their operations downtown as well. what i was saying is that i'm kinda glad chicagoland never built a clayton for itself - an urban major commercial office district to rival the main downtown office district. in chicagoland, all the major susburban office districts are horrendously sprawly, ugly, unimaginative and downright depressing. this helps give downtown chicago an advantage in that it can offer businesses a real environment, a place that actually matters, which is something they ain't gonna find in any of suburban chicago's major office markets.

but we're veering off-topic now, let's get back to this tower proposal and what it may mean for evanston.

If this thing gets through as proposed, I'll faint.

If that does happen it will hopefully create a precedent for building some more buildings in the 300-500' range directly around it. In which case Evanston would have a better skyline than most secondary Major US cities... That would be sweet.

I walked out on the peer at Loyola Beach earlier and was just trying to imagine what it would look like to see a 520' building in Evanston. I realized that it would almost appear just to be an extension of the scraper wall along LSD and Sheridan. It would be nice to be able to drive from Evanston to downtown along a solid canyon of Skyscrapers. Unfortunately there are a lot of thin spots in Rodgers Park...

^^^^Ok......my only apparent disappointment with this thread is that I beleive the earlier proposal had a restaurant up top.

I was really looking forward to that. I am in Evanston alot and often eat there, this would have been cool....Imagine sitting at 530 ft or whatever and being the tallest thing for miles and looking south towards the burgeoning shoulders of Chicago :cool:

^ you're right, i forgot all about the plan for a restaurant at the top of the old scheme. perhaps that's something that could b ressurected in this one. given that it would be such a unique location with such a unique view of the lake, city, and north shore, i have to imagine that a high end restauraunt would make money hand over fist floating 500' above downtown evanston. bummer it ain't a part of the new plan.

I somewhat agree. McD's could certainly afford do build a snazzy HQ downtown. However, areas like Rosemont, Oakbrook, Woodfield serve as economic powerhouses in their own right. Of course it would boost the status of Chicago proper, but the benefits of those companies are still apparent in the burbs.

Whats supposed to be in the distance of the first rendering? Chains of islands? I dont get it.

for people who don;t regularly browse the chicago boom rundown, here's a little synopsis of the other highrise activity going on in evanston for reference:


Evanston mini-boom:

     name                                    use         struct. ht.     roof ht.    floors     year

recently completed:

1. Optima Views                         residential       265 ft        ... ..       28       2003

2. Church Street Station                residential       179 ft        ... ..       17       2002

3. Optima Horizons                      residential       162 ft        ... ..       16       2005

4. Optima Towers                        residential       136 ft        ... ..       13       2002

under construction:

1. Sherman Plaza - TO                   residential       276 ft        ... ..       25       2007

   
   
   

2. Howard Street Station                residential       ___ ft        ... ..       17       2007

• “TO” indicates that the building has been topped out
• italics indicate that the building began construction in 2007

proposed:

1. Fountain Square Tower                residential       523 ft        ... ..       49       2010

2. Carroll Place                        residential       210 ft        ... ..       18       ____

3. Winthrop Club                        residential       155 ft        ... ..       15       2008     website

   
   
   

4. 1890 Maple Avenue                    residential       ___ ft        ... ..       14       ____     

- here are renderings for some of the under construction and proposed projects:


Under Construction


Sherman Plaza
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8...anplaza6js.jpg






Howard Street Station
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/5...1howard3sk.jpg








Proposed


Fountain Square Tower
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/6373/29351494dq5.jpg






Carroll Place
http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/6316/evcp01qz6.jpg






Winthrop Club
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/7...ublarge1de.jpg






1890 Maple Avenue
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/2...90maplehx1.jpg

^^^^Ok this is a little off topic...sorry SD.... but it does deal with Evanston....

....the howard apt building it to be 17 stories currently there is a tower crane on sight that appears to be a little more than twice the heighht of the 6 floor building across the street that used to hold privot point.....so at 17 stories this new building should be about 3times taller.....maybe a bit less


does anyone know the height figure? Additionally, I am trying to gauge the ultimate height via the current height of the tower crane.....will it be taller than the current height of the tower crane, the same, less.

The tower crane appears to be the height of roughly a 12 story building....so I am hoping the apt building will be taller than the crane.

any ideas anyone?

[QUOTE=Steely Dan;2799388]uhhhh, yeah, i don't disagree with any of that,. i would love it if every major chicagoland corporation moved their operations downtown as well. what i was saying is that i'm kinda glad chicagoland never built a clayton for itself - an urban major commercial office district to rival the main downtown office district. in chicagoland, all the major susburban office districts are horrendously sprawly, ugly, unimaginative and downright depressing. this helps give downtown chicago an advantage in that it can offer businesses a real environment, a place that actually matters, which is something they ain't gonna find in any of suburban chicago's major office markets. [QUOTE]

Actually I would say that downtown Evanston is the only suburban office that is urban in nature, but it still isnt anywhere near big enough to compete with downtown Chicago. Downtown Evanston is the only place in Chicagoland besides downtown Chicago where you have office towers and residential highrises within easy walking distance and this highrise would only make it more so. All suburban office districts should follow the Evantson model in an ideal world but many are not built in historic cores like Evanston but rather proximity to expressways.

Speaking of the the Oakbrook Terrace Tower:http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...4/29355133.jpg
From this ariel and from what I have seen and heard about that area it is surrounded by parking lots and is in a very auto-centric environment. So its a nice tall building but its still nothing but a vertical office park.

^How's that different from pretty much every suburban office park?

Anyway, it's a cool project and I hope it isn't shortened significantly, if at all.