Mixed-use Development Aims to Revitalize East Central Street

By Jordan Graham

Twelve years after the Evanston Theater closed down and six years after it was demolished, the portion of Central Street east of the Green Bay Road could be revitalized as a soon-to-be-completed mixed-use building on the strip begins to attract residential and commercial tenants. 

Central Station, a four-story building with 80 rental apartments and 10,700 square feet of storefront space in the 1700 block of Central Street, is currently in talks with potential commercial tenants and could see apartments filled as soon as September, said a project developer.

“What we’re going to be doing is reactivating Central Street east of Green Bay, and this project is going to be a major catalyst for that activation,” said Bob Horne, a principal with Winnetka-based Dodge Capital, which is co-developing the property with Itasca-based M&R Development.

Horne said the developers are currently working on finishing the front of the building, with the goal of removing scaffolding in time for Evanston’s Fourth of July parade.

The building’s ground floor will be filled with commercial tenants, Horne said. Though the space could fit as many as six storefronts, he said that developers will partition the area depending on tenants’ needs.

Horne said he is committed to putting a restaurant on the corner of Central Street and Eastwood Avenue. He also mentioned a fitness center, a coffee shop, a frozen yogurt eatery and service businesses as possible fits in the remaining storefronts.

The building’s 80 apartments will include studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units. There will be a workout facility on the ground floor and a communal “cyber café” with free coffee and wireless internet for tenants. Developers have set up a small leasing office in the nearby State Farm Insurance storefront, but plan to open an office inside the building at some point.

Horne said the building’s proximity to public transportation, Central Street businesses and Northwester University sports facilities made it an ideal space to develop.