Indoor Sports Facility Planned on Oakton Street

An indoor sports practice facility could be coming to the spot behind the GFS Marketplace on Oakton Street after Evanston’s Plan Commission approved a zoning change that makes indoor recreation facilities a permitted special use in I2 industrial zones, Evanston Now reported. 

The proposed zoning code change still needs to go before Evanston’s City Council before Randall Mayne and William Kindra, who are in negotiations to purchase the property, could build a facility, Evanston Now reported.

The site of the planned sports facility is just a short distance from the former Evanston Recycling Center, where the Evanston Baseball and Softball Association had proposed to lease the city property for $1 per year to run a nonprofit indoor sports facility. After several aldermen said they were hesitant about leasing the site to a nonprofit with no possibility for revenue, the organization withdrew its proposal last year.