Second Pritzker B&B Goes to City Council

A second lakefront bed and breakfast for billionaire Col. James Pritzker could become a reality if Evanston aldermen approve a special use permit Monday night.

Pritzker, who already owns a bed and breakfast under construction in a historic mansion at 300 Church St., has submitted a request for a special use permit to operate a bed and breakfast two houses away, at 1622 Forest Place. 

The request for a special use permit is listed on the agenda for the planning and development committee of the city council, and will move to the full board for discussion and a possible vote if the committee recommends it. 

Pritzker’s first bed and breakfast, at 300 Church Street, caused some controversy in 2011, when members of the city council reversed the city’s zoning board and granted Pritzker a special use permit for that property. At the time, neighbors raised concerns about parking, noise and the potential that a bed and breakfast would open the lakefront for commercialization. 

Two years later, the process seems to be repeating itself. At a hearing before the preservation committee in May, as neighbors said they had many of the same concerns about the second bed and breakfast as they did about the first one. And as they did in 2011, members of Evanston’s zoning board of appeals also voted to deny a special use permit for 1622 Forest Place, in part because of the proposed bed and breakfast’s proximity to the first.

In a letter to city officials, neighbor Jessica Feldman cited the same concern, pointing 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 a purchase price of $1.2 million with the goal of converting the property into a 57-room boutique hotel, 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 Andrew Scott, an attorney for Pritzker, told Patch in May that 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, and that overall, the new property would be good for the area.

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