Leaders of Three Crowns Park met with residents and neighbors Thursday afternoon to get feedback on plans to rehab the oldest part of the more than century old Evanston retirement community.
Randy Gross, senior vice president for project development at Covenant Living, said the organization a few years ago had considered tearing down the Pioneer Place building and replacing it with a new structure — but that project was estimated to cost $90 million and faced major obstacles because of the building’s designation as a historic landmark.
The now-vacant building has about 80 tiny studio apartments — ranging from 200 to 400 square feet in size — apartments that Gross said aren’t very attractive to today’s seniors.
The newly proposed gut rehab of the interior calls for ending up with 23 one- and two-bedroom units — all with either terraces or balconies to provide some outdoor living space.
Gross said they would be among the largest units in the development. He said pricing hasn’t been determined, but they would likely be somewhat more expensive than the largest existing units in the community.
He said it is likely to take 18 months to complete the design process and get city approvals for the project — which will include review by the Historic Preservation Commission, a hearing before the Land Use Commission and ultimately a City Council vote.
Gross said Three Crowns will want to have pre-sales for 70% of the units before beginning construction — so it’s likely to be at least three years from now before the project is completed.
A man who said he lives across Pioneer Road from the site strongly opposed the plans, saying it would turn greenspace facing his home into an eyesore of a parking lot.
Three Crowns representatives responded that plans for parking for the project are still very much in flux — and they plan to bring in an arborist to help configure the added parking in a way that preserves mature trees on the site — including a massive Burr Oak.
They said it wasn’t feasible to include underground parking because that would severely damage the root system of the trees and that trying to put parking beneath the century-old building would end up threatening its structural integrity.
Asked by neighbor Lori Keenan about whether the building would be LEED certified, architects for the project said that hadn’t been determined, but they planned to add solar panels to the building’s roof.
A second community meeting was scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Three Crowns Park, 2323 McDaniel Ave.