$29 Million Plan To Turn Harley Clarke Mansion Into Hotel, Bar, Restaurant Space Approved

EVANSTON, IL — After nearly a decade of debate and failed proposals for the future of the city-owned Harley Clarke mansion, the Evanston City Council on Monday authorized staff to draw up a lease agreement with developer that proposes a $29 million renovation of the historic lakefront property.

Under the proposal from Celadon Construction, the long-vacant mansion will be transformed into a 10-room boutique hotel with a restaurant, bar and event venue, while preserving some access for community use in a 99-year lease with the city.

Celadon's plan is backed by financial guarantees and is paid for through a combination of $10 million in historic tax credits, loans and private investments. The restored building would host about 100 weddings a year under the plan.

Scott Henry, president and co-founder of the developer, said he was very familiar with the complications of various sources of capital for the adaptive reuse of historic buildings from his experience developing affordable housing projects.

"I think I'm probably an ideal person to tackle this project. For example, incorporating the community in all of my projects is in my DNA so it's super important for everything I do, including Harley Clark," said Henry, who pledged to invest $4 million of his own money in the project.

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"I think the concerns that some have raised about the exclusivity of our project — once folks really understand what it is that we're doing, respectfully, they'll probably come to the conclusion that their concerns are not founded," the developer said.

The approval of the latest boutique hotel plan comes more than a decade after the City Council rejected a plan to sell the property to billionaire Jennifer Pritzker's real estate venture and turn it into a 57-room hotel.

Following an effort by wealthy area residents to demolish the structure, a non-binding 2018 referendum saw 80 percent of Evanston voters support the preservation of the mansion for public use.

But subsequent efforts to repurpose the property failed — namely a 2021 plan to establish the Artists' Book House literary center led by local author Audrey Niffenegger that only managed to raise about $1 million of a $10 million goal.

Under the Celadon proposal, the mansion's coach house and surrounding gardens, designed by noted landscape architect Jens Jensen, will be subleased to the nonprofit Jens Jensen Gardens group for environmental education programs.

Charles Smith, the president of the group, said the Artists' Book House plan was well-meaning but managing the redevelopment of the mansion was far beyond its capabilities.

"Lots of people have shown dedication to what they believe is in the best interest of the community, including those who saw demolition as the best option," Smith said. "But I think that we should feel gratified and proud that through all the work of many City Council members, in addition to the ones that are here today, have persisted and moved it a little bit at a time forward to get to this point."

"It’s been a very painful process, but I believe the Celadon proposal that ranked highest in the selection process is far and away better than anything I could have imagined and will be done in just a few years, at the most," he said. "This Celadon proposal justifies all the hard work, trouble and angst that we’ve gone through all these last five, six or seven years."

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Among the latest four proposals submitted, Celadon's was deemed the most financially viable by city staff. The firm’s track record in historic preservation, including prior projects that have earned multiple Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards, also played a role the staff recommendation.

According to city staff, the finished proposal could generate about $1 million a year in additional tax revenue for the city.

"We have a potential million-dollar windfall, per year, from a boutique hotel that we also will, hopefully, get four to five days, probably five days a week of public access, and we still have access to the grounds," Ald. Juan Geracaris, 9th Ward, said ahead of the vote. "Like, this is something like a win-win situation: we’re having our cake and we’re eating it too, right?"

Planner Cade Sterling said the hotel proposal would ensure key parts of the mansion and its grounds remain available for public events for most of the week and offers the best opportunity in over a decade to restore the mansion while demonstrating that public and private interests can coexist.

"Although the proposal contains for-profit uses within its existing volume, such as the ability for community members to rent professional meeting and smaller event space, grab a drink with colleagues or friends, enjoy an ice cream with your children, celebrate special occasions over a meal on the lakefront, or offer a one-of-a-kind hoteling option for visiting guests," Sterling said, "this proposal also maintains beach use and access, maintains the public parking lot for the public, maintains public access to the adjacent park and lighthouse, recognizes and commits to working with the city to retain existing programming opportunities and offers significant new opportunity for public access, events and programming within a fully restored structure and its grounds, at no expense to the city."

Ald. Clare Kelly, 1st Ward, voiced concerns about the process leading up to the approval of the Celadon project, including its inclusion on the agenda as a special order of business, which bypasses the committee process. She said she hoped that city officials could figure out a way to make sure that there is regular public access to the space, since that's what voters endorsed in the 2018 vote.

"It’s unfortunate that this has dragged on. I mean, I would think that any city that's truly serving its residents, this should have been a place for the community a long time ago with the city investing in it," Kelly said. "We invested in two hockey rinks, we invested in, long-term leases, all kinds of other huge expenses that this that people were not clamoring for. Yet this, people have been."

Next, City Manager Luke Stowe can move to draft a final copy of the lease agreement, which would then return to the council for final approval.

The project will also need to go before Evanston’s Land Use Commission and Preservation Commission before construction could begin, likely in mid to late 2025. The mansion would then be expected to reopen in 2026.