Pritzker May Open Second B&B On Lakefront

In 2011, Evanston aldermen made a controversial decision to reverse the city’s zoning board and allow Col. James Pritzker to turn a historic lakefront home into a bed and breakfast at 300 Church St.

Two years later, the billionaire Evanston resident is back before city officials with a proposal to build a second bed and breakfast two houses away, at 1622 Forest Place—and some neighbors are upset. 

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“At this point I have great concerns about Col. Pritzker and the path he has chosen going forward in his new career as B&B financier,” Evanston resident Jessica Feldman wrote in an e-mail to city officials. “Having the bankroll to change a community should not trump preserving well-established neighborhoods.” 

Pritzker’s attorney and architect appeared before the city’s site plan and appearance review committee on Wednesday, when the committee approved the plans for a B&B at the historic Tudor Home next to Pritzker’s residence, facing Patriot Park. Because a special use permit is required for construction of a bed and breakfast in a residential district zoned R-1 (as Forest Place is), Pritzker’s limited liability company must still go before the zoning board and obtain city council approval.

Speaking before the site plan and appearance review committee, architect Paul Janicki explained that the plans call for an expansion of the third floor to create a space for the innkeeper to live, renovation of the basement to include an exercise room and laundry machines, and construction of an elevator in the back of the building that will serve all four floors. The plans do not call for any changes to the first and second floors of the five-bedroom, 124-year-old home.

“It’s a historic house and it has a lot of great historic details,” Janicki said. “We’re saving those.” 

The property also has a coach house behind it, which would be expanded to include 5 parking spaces for guests. 

Linda Cooper, a neighbor attending the meeting, said she was concerned about the amount of traffic the bed and breakfast would generate from laundry service or food deliveries. But Andrew Scott, an attorney for Pritzker, explained that the property has a side drive with space to stage a truck without blocking the street. 

Neighbors also said they were concerned about the potential for noise from parties or other events. 

Scott said the bed and breakfast would limit late-night noise, in part because the innkeeper will live on the property, as required by city code.

“We want to be good neighbors,” he said. 

Residents attending the meeting also expressed concerns about the fact that this bed and breakfast would be just one house away from the other bed and breakfast owned by another Pritzker-owned LLC at 300 Church Street, which is already under construction. 

“I think it’s problematic for you to approve two of these, sandwiching one house in between,” said neighbor David Reynolds. “I’m concerned about property values. I’m concerned about precedent-setting.”

In her e-mail to city officials, which was read at the meeting, neighbor Jessica Feldman also pointed out the fact that Pritzker owns two other properties in the neighborhood, including his home, as well as a bed and breakfast in Rogers Park. Pritzker is also the last remaining bidder for the city-owned Harley Clarke Mansion at 2603 Sheridan Road. He has proposed turning it into a boutique hotel or event center, according to city officials. 

“At this point I have great concerns about Colonel Pritzker and the path he has chosen going forward in his new career as B&B financier,” Feldman wrote. “At the rate he is moving there could potentially be three bed and breakfasts on one R-1 residential block.” 

But Scott said he believed the intensity of use of a bed and breakfast at 1622 Forest Place would not be much different from that of a single-family home.

“We think this has a positive effect on the neighborhood,” he said. 

According to Scott, Pritzker hopes to start operating the bed and breakfast at 300 Church Street next fall. 

The proposal is set to go before the zoning board of appeals during a public hearing scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, at the Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.