Northlight Theatre Raises Curtain On Plot To Return To Evanston

EVANSTON, IL — Northlight Theatre revealed last week it plans to build a new theater in Evanston without the need for a developer. The theater company said it has signed an option agreement to buy a building at 1012-16 Church Street and hopes to complete the purchase by the end of the year and move out of its current location in Skokie in 2021.

According to an announcement of the plan, the new location will be a standalone building of up to three stories that will be "transformational for Northlight and will enhance downtown Evanston," where it has been attempting to find a way to return for years.

Northlight was founded in 1974 as the Evanston Theater Company and originally performed in the Coronet Theater, which has since been demolished. Its lease on at the North Shore Center for Performing Arts expires at the end of its 2020-21 season, and it has already begun fundraising to be able to independently finance the construction of a new building.

The plans were first revealed Friday by Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris Jones, who reported Northlight has begun a $20 million capital campaign to allow it to build a 300-seat theater at the location. Tim Evans, the theater's executive director, told the paper there's "been a drumbeat for Northlight to come home" and said the latest proposed site had been recommended by Amy Morton, owner of The Barn steakhouse in a former stable behind Northlight's proposed new location.

The building the theater is seeking to buy formerly housed 27 Live and is currently the location of Ron Onesti's Evanston Rocks music hall, Rock'N Ravioli restaurant and Boubon 'N Brass bar, where nearly two years of renovations were completed last year. Next door at 1016 Church St., the restaurant Thai Sookdee closed in 2016 after more than 25 years.

Northlight's most recent previous plans to relocate from Skokie in a proposed 39-story mixed use development in the 1700 block of Sherman Avenue were scrapped last April after Northlight, Farpoint Development and McLaurin Development said pushing for the project would only "serve to perpetuate a divisive issue for city leaders and residents."

At the time, Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty said the city would not be able to subsidize the theater's return but city officials should work hard to bring a performing arts theater to the city.

"The reality is that for Northlight to return," Hagerty said at the time, "a multi-use development must occur."

But in a social media post Friday following the announcement of the Church Street plan, which includes no such development, the mayor said he supported the plan and called on residents to "work hard to make the second time a charm."

Earlier:

• 2018: Developers, Northlight Theater Withdraw Proposal For Evanston's Tallest Tower
• 2015: Northlight Theater Could Return to Evanston
• 2013: Could Northlight Theater Return to Evanston?