EAC Shares a Vision for a Civic Campus at 2100 Ridge
Evanston Action Coalition has submitted a new idea to Evanston PAW: evaluate 2100 Ridge as a renewed, publicly-owned Civic Campus.
Our concept preserves and modernizes the historic Marywood Academy/Civic Center as a home for civic services, public meetings, and community-serving partners—while creating a separate, modern Police/Fire facility on the larger campus.
It also calls for protecting Ingraham Park as meaningful public green space, with improved paths, landscaping, gathering areas, and an open-air amphitheater for Starlight-style performances and other community events.
In its FY24 PRO Housing grant application narrative, the City described Putting Assets to Work as an effort to identify underutilized municipal assets for housing development, including “soon to be vacant buildings such as its Civic Center,” with an initial estimated impact of up to 150 affordable housing units across the initiative that includes the current police and fire station and the Noyes Cultural Arts Center. The application did not assign those units to the Civic Center specifically. City staff later stated that housing is not predetermined for the three current PAW sites and that the engagement process is intended to consider housing, other uses, and whether each site should be used for housing at all.
That is precisely why residents should place a serious public-use alternative on the record. Before a rare, centrally located public asset is directed toward private redevelopment or housing-oriented reuse, Evanston should fully evaluate whether the site can better serve the public as a restored Civic Campus.
This is not a final site plan. The illustrations are intended to help residents imagine an alternative: a restored historic civic asset, modern public-safety facilities, protected green space, and a welcoming public campus that remains in Evanston’s hands.
Read the full proposal and view the concept renderings: www.evanstonaction.com/civiccampus
Related Coverage
Oct. 17, 2025 — Evanston RoundTable: ‘Putting Assets to Work’ rolls out public engagement for future of Civic Center, other major city properties
Local coverage on the City’s launch of the PAW engagement process for the vacant Civic Center, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, and Police/Fire Headquarters. The article describes the initiative’s consideration of new amenities, programming, and private-side uses, and notes that residential conversion was among the early public ideas for 2100 Ridge.
Resources
Jul. 1, 2026 — Evanston PAW: A Complete Civic Campus at 2100 Ridge
EAC’s submitted concept calls for preserving and modernizing Marywood Academy as the public-facing heart of a renewed Civic Campus, alongside purpose-built Police/Fire facilities, community-serving space, and protected green space at Ingraham Park.
Jan. 26, 2026 — Evanston Action Coalition: Envision Evanston 2045: A Documented Timeline of Process, Grants, and Governance
Documented chronology tracing Envision Evanston 2045, related grant applications, and the City’s PAW initiative, including planning actions that placed publicly owned sites such as the Civic Center within a broader housing and asset-reuse framework.