Evanston City Council shoots down Northwestern’s Ryan Field economic impact study contract

Evanston’s Administrative and Public Works Committee on Feb. 13 unanimously voted against granting Hunden Strategic Partners a contract to perform an economic impact study on Northwestern University’s Ryan Field rebuild.

Elected officials unanimously voted to task the Economic Development Committee with crafting a request for proposals for a comprehensive study, focusing on more than just economic development. Committee members and public comment participants said traffic, noise and environmental concerns should be addressed with citywide resident input.

The committee’s vote comes as a community organization collective — consisting of Community Alliance for Better Government, Most Livable City Association, Northwestern University Graduate Works and Students Organizing for Labor Rights — requested elected officials to oppose the proposal. These organizations oppose the proposal because Hunden Strategic Partners is a destination real estate advisory firm that could potentially benefit from the project, according to the collective’s statement.

“Given this background, it is difficult to believe that Hunden will be truly objective,” the statement says. “Although they claim to give fair minded advice based on the data, it’s clear from their prospectus and their website that they generally favor such projects.”

Residents also voiced concerns about the study only looking at economic impact, ignoring other key elements like traffic, noise and environmental impact. CABG and Most Livable City Association members recently voiced frustration with Northwestern University for bringing forth a “surface level” transportation assessment compared to other developments. Northwestern said it will release a more detailed traffic study when an official planned development application is submitted to the city.

Councilmember Eleanor Revelle, who is not on the Administrative and Public Works Committee, spoke before her colleagues advocating them to vote against the proposal. Revelle said the committee should consider referring the item to the Economic Development Committee to draft a nationwide request for proposals.

Economic Development Manager Paul Zalmezak said a request for proposals would have been standard but the city steamrollered the process to accommodate Northwestern.

“We were reacting to the rapid pace of the Ryan Field rebuild project, how it was engaging with the community and where we stood on the zoning calendar,” Zalmezak said. “We were working at a rapid pace and that’s how we got to where we are today. Traditionally, we would draft an RFP.”

He said proposal conversations could start at the Economic Development Committee as soon as Feb. 22. Afterward, a request for proposals will be released with a final proposal going before the City Council in late March or early April, according to Zalmezak’s presentation.

Zalmezak originally requested the committee approve Huden’s contact because of its experience working with public sector clients despite the contract coming in at $98,000, which is roughly double what other firms would have charged, according to Zalmezak’s report.

Northwestern performed its own economic impact study, which opponents allege is skewed to favor the project, that says the stadium will bring $1.2 billion in area revenue by 2031.

Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.