Campus sale may bring a development

BY KEN GOZE
PIONEER PRESS STAFF WRITER

As of yet there are no citizens groups organized to stop the wrecking ball or protest the impact of new development, but neighbors, village trustees and many other interest groups are keeping a close eye on the 6.5-acre tract National-Louis University plans to sell on Wilmette's border with Evanston.

The university's board of trustees at the end of April voted to sell the Sheridan Road campus and move to a new North Shore area location within the next two years. University officials cited a $16 million price tag for renovating the 77-year-old campus and an expected sale price of up to $25 million. They plan to relocate or reconfigure three of the university's four Chicago area campuses.

Redevelopment plan

With three-quarters of the property on the Wilmette side of the border, the sale creates a redevelopment issue second only to the 17-acre Mallinckrodt property left by Loyola University in 2001.

Wilmette administrators say they have had only preliminary discussions with the university, which is just starting the process of marketing the property.

"At this point I don't know there's a lot the village will be doing because we don't have a lot of information," said John Adler, community development director. "Once we get an idea of how they might market the property and what their thoughts on the property are, the Village Board might desire to talk about this either at a board meeting or in the Land Use Committee."

The Wilmette portion of the property holds Harrison Hall, the main three-story building, the Baker Demonstration School affiliated with the university and six houses along Maple Street which are used for faculty offices.

The sale and move are not expected to be completed until the end of the 2006 academic year.

Single-family homes

With R-1 residential zoning, single-family homes are the only use which is automatically permitted. Schools, fire and police stations and houses of worship are allowed on a case-by-case basis through a special-use process. Another special use allows institutional properties such as a college to be adapted for senior housing, a provision created recently to accommodate a pending redevelopment of the Mallinckrodt building.

Due to the value of the land and its surroundings on Wilmette's southeast side, a single-family home development seems to be the most likely replacement, said Chris Anderson, chief communications officer for the university. While it's possible another university might want the property, most are not interested in taking on an aging facility.

Special zoning

Wilmette Village President Nancy Canafax said the Village Board might want to reconsider the use of a zoning tool which could add flexibility and control to major redevelopment projects.

A planned unit development process can give the village the ability to negotiate certain building limits with a developer.

Such a process has been adopted for commercial areas, but never used, and neighbors near Mallinckrodt pressured the board to drop a residential proposal because they feared it would give builders too much latitude.

The advantage to a PUD is that it can allow a creative reuse without changing the underlying zoning.

It is an option available in residential zones in many communities, but it is an untested concept in Wilmette.

"One of the reasons they haven't gone back to that is nobody has used the commercial one yet."

"They'd like a little experience, a little hands as a background to do the residential," Canafax said.

Housing advocates

Affordable housing activists see the sale as a potential opportunity, but they have had their hands full with the Mallinckrodt redevelopment and efforts by Wilmette and other villages to develop comprehensive affordable housing plans.

Gail Schechter, executive director for the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs, said long-range plans could help Wilmette and other towns stay focused on possible sites and approaches to affordable housing rather than having to mobilize a new army of advocates when each redevelopment issue surfaces.

She would like to see set-aside requirements making any new development leave some affordable units and a PUD process which would allow some flexibility in reuse.

The Mallinckrodt effort did help carve out some more affordable units for seniors in a proposed condominium development still under negotiation, but it's unlikely that taxpayers will want to by another major parcel after the $25 million referendum to purchase Mallinckrodt as a future park.

"I don't think residents have the stomach for another referendum," Schechter said.