Harley Clarke Mansion & Jens Jensen Gardens Request for Proposal (RFP)

From the City of Evanston website:

“The City of Evanston is seeking to enter into a long-term lease of the Harley Clarke Mansion and Coach House to a party that will invest in and renovate the property. The property is located at 2603 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201. The party will be required to incorporate a public component as a meaningful component of its proposal using the entire space or a subset of the space (e.g. café, museum, classes, meeting space).

There will be a Non-mandatory pre-proposal meeting July 24, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2402 of the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201.  All firms intending to submit a proposal for this project are encouraged to attend to discuss the proposed work and receive answers to questions related to the project. The City will hold two Non-mandatory Community Meetings for interested parties to present their proposal to the general public on August 6, 2019 and November 5, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. at the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., Parasol Room, Evanston, IL 60201.

Additionally, the City will have tours of the buildings for proposers from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on the following dates: June 3, 4 and 5; July 1 and 2; August 1 and 2; September 3, 4, and 5; and October 1, 2 and 3.  Additional tours will be scheduled at the discretion of the City. All parties who attend a tour must retain a professional manner and are not allowed to question or discuss proposals with other visitors.   

Sealed proposals shall conform to the RFP on file in the Purchasing Office. The document, including all necessary plans and specifications, will be available in the Purchasing Office on May 16, 2019. Parties interested in submitting a bid should contact the Purchasing Office to receive a copy of the bid or see the City’s website at: www.cityofevanston.org/business/bids-proposals/  or Demandstar at: www.demandstar.com.

The City of Evanston (the City) in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, hereby notifies all organizations that it will ensure that the contract(s) entered into pursuant to this notice will be awarded to the successful organization without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation marital status, disability, familial status or national origin. The City of Evanston reserves the right to reject any or all submittals or to accept the submittal(s) deemed most advantageous to the City.

Each Proposer shall be required to submit with his/her proposal a Disclosure of Ownership Interest Statement Form in accordance with Section 1-18-1 et seq. of the City Code.  Failure to submit such information may result in the disqualification of such proposal.”

Updated Architectural & Engineering Condition Assessment

At our request, in September 2019 Landmarks Illinois commissioned an architectural and engineering condition assessment by Wiss Janey Elstner (WJE), the purpose of which was to gain a general sense of the condition of the building, and to provide prioritized repair and maintenance recommendations. WJE found the Harley Clarke house to be in surprisingly GOOD CONDITION, identifying and prioritizing three phases of work that will stabilize the house for future use. The total cost of the First Priority of those repairs is estimated between $40,000 and $60,000,  Second Priority is between $200,000 - $250,000, and Third Priority is between $100,000 - $150,000. 

The full PDF of the report can be found here.