State-Of-The-Art Recording Studio For Sale In South Evanston

EVANSTON, IL — The Reeves Audio Recording studio building in south Evanston was listed Thursday for $440,000, returning to the market for the first time in eight years with its price cut by more than 36 percent. That reduced price, however, does not include the studio's extensive collection of recording and sound equipment. Potential purchasers are already showing interest, but it remains to be seen whether any buyer is willing to keep intact the professional studio its owner has spent a quarter century building, upgrading and maintaining.

Since 1993, the 109-year-old brick split-level about a block north of the South Boulevard CTA Purple Line has housed Jim Reeves and the live-work studio where he has recorded more than a thousand sessions and more than a hundred albums.

Reeves, 76, has six decades of experience in the music and recording business, including multiple gold records and an Emmy. In the 1960s, he was a staff engineer with Columbia Records where he recorded albums for Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and George Harrison, toured with artists such as Booker T. and the M.G.'s and engineered live albums from Johnny Winter, Duke Ellington, Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles and the Beach Boys, among many others.

Reeves also recorded commercials, jingles, voice-overs and more, including the 1973 inaugural ball celebrating Richard Nixon's second term. In the 1980s, he moved to Westchester, New York, with his two young sons — one now has his own studio in North Hollywood while the other is a general manager at a Chicago restaurant — and worked out of a home studio he built.

In the early 1990s, Reeves moved from the New York City suburbs to the North Shore to stay close to his children when his wife, a Winnetka native, decided to move to Wilmette. Unable to find work as an engineer in Chicago despite his resume, he purchased a converted warehouse that had housed the C.G. Jung Institute and built his own studio.

"I can do just about anything here, and every day it's a different kind of project and approach to it," he said.

In recent years in Evanston, Reeves also designed the sound and lighting setup at S.P.A.C.E., 1245 Chicago Ave., where he handled live engineering for more than 400 concerts over its first three years.

With 14-foot ceilings, Reeves' building at 550 Callan Ave. is currently configured to have just a single bedroom upstairs. Over the years, he has upgraded and expanded the studio, which now also includes cameras for recording live performances and has been wired with top-end Mogami microphone lines.

"It's at least as good as any other recording studio and probably better," Reeves said.

Before the 9-room building was remodeled into offices and a library for the Jung Institute in the 1970s, the 2,800-square-foot structure on 0.14 acres had previously been used as a garage for ice cream trucks for the factory that was originally next door.

Over the years, Reeves said he has upgraded both mechanical elements of the home and the studio's equipment. Recently, he added new air conditioning units, furnaces and a water heater. As technology developed and recording went digital, Reeves installed a Pro Tools system that can accommodate up to 48 tracks of recording.

"Everything's already set-up, all you have to do is open up a template," Reeves said. "If a band walked in here from out of town, with nothing, they can walk in here in five minutes be recording. It's all set."

The property includes an outdoor patio out front beside a front parking area with room for eight cars. The property is being sold as-is, with studio equipment not included in the base price but available for purchase separately, according to its listing.

Listing agent Jeanie Bratschie told Patch she was honored to be selling the property on behalf of a friend and musical colleague.

"My band and I have spent many hours recording my music here, so I have a special place in my heart for this studio, as well as a CD cover on its 'Wall of Fame,'" Bratschie said. "I would love to see it stay intact as a studio to pass along to the next generation of recording engineers but of course will welcome any interested buyers. "

Reeves said a studio package, including all of the studio's high-end wiring and equipment, would be available to an interested buyer for a price around $650,000. He said the thought of saying goodbye to his studio and home for the past two decades is painful.

"It kills me to have to leave it," Reeves said. "I wish I could put it on a trailer truck and drive it out of here and go somewhere else but that ain't what's going to happen."

• Address: 550 Callan Ave, Evanston, Illinois
• Price: $440,000
• Square Feet: 2,808
• Lot Size: 0.14 acres
• Built: 1910
• Bedrooms: 3
• Bathrooms: 1 full, 1 half

Listing information originally appeared on realtor.com. For more information and photos, click here.