Center would purchase building, then lease it to two local businesses — 4 Suns and Whole Woman Fitness
By Bob Seidenberg (rseiden914@gmail.com)
The Heartwood Center has made an offer to purchase the property next door to its center, at 1826-30 Dempster St., where a Glenview resident wants to put a Popeyes franchise.
Nancy Floy, the founder and director of the health and wellness collective at 1818 Dempster St., told supporters at a strategy meeting earlier this week that Heartwood has reached out to the owner about buying the property.
The center, a nonprofit, would purchase the building, then lease it to two local businesses — 4 Suns and Whole Woman Fitness — that fit Heartwood’s vision for the neighborhood.
“For 15 years, we at Heartwood have shared a vision with neighboring businesses to keep our block filled with small, locally-owned businesses, and no more fast food,” Floy said. “Heartwood wants to purchase the building to continue the Thrives vision [the city’s initiative to energize local business districts] in this way.”
She acknowledged that an added motivation in purchasing the property is trying to stop Popeyes from coming in.
Brad Belden, a senior vice president with Collier’s, the real estate brokerage firm handling the property, did not respond to a phone call or email seeking comment this week.
Floy said Friday the center is appealing directly to the property owner, Wolfberg Development LLC, “to reach back and let us buy the property.”
“We are the better choice than Popeyes for all that we can bring to our community,” she said. “The choice is clear: Popeyes, a fast-food franchise owned by a man in Glenview, versus two locally-owned businesses by women.”
Franchise owner Karim Poonja, of Glenview, originally applied to operate the Popeyes as a Type 2 restaurant, a quick serve or fast-food restaurant under the city’s zoning code. He has since withdrawn his application and told city staff he intends to apply as a Type 1, or sit-down, restaurant.
Floy has maintained that the future of Heartwood would be in serious jeopardy if Popeyes moved next door, arguing that the fast-food chain would render the entire west side of the building unusable due to noise, traffic and smell.
The center has about 50 small businesses operating within its doors — including therapists, nurse practitioners and others — and Floy has said that many of those organizations would leave the property if Popeyes comes, “placing the future of Heartwood in serious jeopardy,” she said.
The Dempster-Dodge intersection already has the greatest concentration of fast-food restaurants in the city. A petition that received some 350 signatures from neighbors said “we want community business development of healthy food options, local entrepreneurs and community-serving businesses,” maintaining that a Popeyes would undermine those efforts.
What’s needed: A healthy, wholesome food alternative
Speaking during the public comment portion of Wednesday’s special council meeting on Envision Evanston, Gabrielle “Gabi” Aguilar, the owner of 4 Suns Plant Based Kitchen at 1906 Main St., charged that a Popeyes at the southwest corner of Dempster and Dodge is in “conflict” with the future vision for the city that officials are drawing up.
“And when I envision Evanston, Popeyes being there is not what I have in mind,” she told councilmembers. An “unhealthy grease trap is not what the community deserves,” she continued. “We need healthy choices.”
She suggested that 4 Suns, which specializes in vegan fare, could resolve the problem. Heartwood, whom she didn’t name, is a qualified investor that “would purchase the building and resell it to us. We would pay our property taxes and our sales taxes, so this is not a nonprofit entity at all,” she said, addressing potential concerns about Heartwood’s ownership taking the property off the tax rolls.
She said she also has appealed to Second Ward Councilmember Krissie Harris about backing the move. Harris had previously written in support of staff’s decision to use an administrative review to approve a license for Popeyes under the Type 2 restaurant application.
Aguilar told councilmembers that 4 Suns would operate a food hall at the location, which “would allow multiple food choices that are healthy, that people could in, sit down, meet with people, and have healthy, wholesome food, different types of food.”
Trisha Connolly, a longtime resident of the Second Ward, also addressed the council, noting the omission of the ward’s concentration of fast-food restaurants from a draft report identifying the challenges the city faces.
“So are we saying fast food is not one of the things that make the Second Ward attractive?” she asked. “I’ve been hearing some say, ‘That’s where all the fast-food is. It’s car-centric, and there’s traffic, so of course Popeyes should be there.’ Does that mean we should all throw up our hands and say ‘OK, we’re in the Second Ward, the fast-food capital of Evanston,’ and just deal with it?
“It is surprising to me that a lot is said about health disparities, thriving environment, healthy buildings, tree canopy and small local business and reparations,” Connolly said, “but to entertain anything other than a Popeyes at Dempster-Dodge is inconceivable for our community.”
“Envision Evanston, what does that mean?” Connolly asked councilmembers, referring to the city’s proposed comprehensive plan and zoning code overhaul. “And when does that start?”