By Steve Balkin <mar@interaccess.com>
Date: March 12, 1999
The City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development has just issued a compromise plan for saving 27 buildings in the old Maxwell Street area. You can read about this in Curtis Lawrence's recent Chicago Suntimes articles (1) (2).
Looking for excuses not to implement the City's Maxwell Street compromise preservation plan for saving 27 buildings, UIC's Chancellor David Broski is claiming it is too costly. Out of a billion dollar cost for its entire South Campus expansion project, the 10 million dollar price tag for preservation would be only 1% of the total budget. That seems affordable especially when one considers that this is the part of the project that will give it character, history, a sense of place, and create value for the area. It also seems affordable given the eight financing options below.
It must be remembered that, over the last 10 years, UIC has won every Maxwell Street preservation battle and already destroyed 90% of the area. There are 60 old buildings remaining in the area and UIC is being asked to save only 27 of them for adaptive reuse. This is a significant compromise on the part of the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition. It is not too much to ask UIC to concede a sliver of this world landmark neighborhood. UIC did not have to expand into this area. Because it chose to develop into this historic neighborhood, it must accept its stewardship responsibilities and be a good Chicago citizen.
Financing options:
1. UIC is in the process of the area designated as a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district -- the Roosevelt-Union TIF. TIF is a public financing tool that diverts incremental property tax revenues into development projects. Part of those TIF dollars can go to the preservation of Maxwell Street buildings. That certainly seems a more public purpose of tax dollars than for assisting in the development of private $400,000 condominiums.
2. UIC requires a certain square foot of space in its expansion area for academic uses, student housing, and retail. It is intending to obtain all of that space from the construction of new buildings. Instead it can obtain a portion of that space from the rehabilitation of old buildings. It can, therefore divert part of its new construction budget to preservation rehab and get its needs satisfied with a mix of new and old buildings rather than just new buildings. Further savings would occur because UIC would be eligible for 20% a Federal Historic Preservation (saleable) tax credit. Many universities have historic old local buildings in their campus mix such as Northwestern and Boston University. Roosevelt University houses both of its campuses in rehabbed old buildings.
3. UIC can simply allow the private owners of those old buildings to develop their own properties and then lease them back to UIC.
4. UIC can sell the buildings it owns to private developers, who have done preservation of historic properties, for rehab. A provision is that the properties get leased back to UIC.
5. UIC can become partners with private developers to do the adaptive reuse historic preservation rehab and, in return for sharing the cost, UIC can share in the profits. If Mesirow Stein does not want to participate in this aspect of the project, other developers can be found who would.
6. UIC can tap into funds available from the White House's Save America Treasures program. President Clinton is of Southern heritage and is a blues fan. So, getting money from this program should be relative easy. In his State of the Union address in January, President Clinton urged all Americans "to preserve their heritage as a gift to the new century". The Save America's Treasures program was formed as a partnership between the White House and Heritage Preservation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the National Park Foundation. It was conceived with the President's notion that "only by protecting and preserving our cultural treasures can we learn who we are as a nation". The National Trust for Historic Preservation organization will help coordinate a public education campaign and establish a private committee that will direct funds to the most urgent preservation needs identified at the national level and by the states.
7. There are several large corporations whose founders came from Maxwell Street or their businesses were started there. Funds can be solicited from these businesses in return for good visibility and PR. These businesses include Vienna Beef, CBS, Bigsby and Karuthers, Ron Popeil Industries, Keeshin Transportation, Paramount Studios, Flukys, Nabisco, and MCA Records.
8. A Maxwell Aid Blues benefit concert (and CD) can be organized by UIC. Featured at the concert would be President Clinton playing saxophone and guest artists that have ties to the area or to musicians from the area. Included in this list would be The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Snooky Pryor, Carey Bell, Jimmie Lee Robinson, Frank Scott Jr., Johnnie Mae Dunson, Charlie Musslewhite, Jody Noa, Al Harris, Piano C. Red, Dancin Perkins, Honeyboy Edwards, and if still able to perform, Uncle Johnny Williams. MCs could be Dan Aykroyd, Buddy Guy, Studs Terkel, Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, and New York Times columnist Ira Berkow.
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