An Evanston elevated train at Howard Street in 1961. Photo: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
The City of Evanston is looking for a theater company to anchor a new city-owned stage on Howard Street, and the paperwork for the site is now public. Land title surveys for the two properties involved, 717 Howard St. and 721-723 Howard St., have been posted alongside the city’s call for proposals.
What the city wants
The city asked qualified theater organizations to submit proposals to become the resident company at an 80-to-120-seat storefront theater. The tenant would manage the space, occupy it and handle routine maintenance. The building would be developed or constructed by the city and remain city property.
The planned site is 721 Howard St. The adjacent property at 717 Howard was slated for demolition in the late spring or early summer of 2015 and was to be folded into the project. Questions about the proposal were directed to Johanna Leonard, the city’s economic development division manager.
Part of a larger effort
City officials have described the theater as part of the ongoing effort to revitalize Howard Street, and Ald. Ann Rainey of the 8th Ward has championed it since the early negotiations, the Daily Northwestern reported.
What came of it
The first plans did not hold. According to the Daily Northwestern, a larger project involving Strawdog Theatre fell through, and the city then turned to Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, a Chicago company. In November 2016 the city committed $1.4 million in tax increment financing money to the project, contingent on the theater group raising about $200,000 itself. Aldermen approved a lease in March 2017. It runs 10 years, with four options to extend for five years each, and the city keeps ownership of the building.
Theo Ubique opened its first production at the Howard Street space in late 2018, and the company has operated there since.
Sources: Daily Northwestern, March 30, 2017, and Nov. 28, 2018.
Margaret Whitfield is the editor of The Evanston Edge and covers local government, development and neighborhoods.
