West End Florist Turns 100

By Victoria Scott

Elizabeth Hoffman is the fourth-generation of her family's West End Florist and Garden Center.

No one knows whether Mathias Hoffmann liked turnips and radishes.

They do know that at the beginning of the 20th century Mathias was supporting a family with those vegetables -- raising, picking and hauling them to a downtown market, where he sold them from the back of his truck, says his great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Hoffman. He traded his root crops, too, for the varied fruits of his neighbors' labor.

While Mathias's preference in food has disappeared, along with the final "n" in his Luxembourger name, his farm has not.

One hundred years after his 1908 purchase of a plot at 3800 Old Glenview Road for his truck garden, his land remains in the family. A fourth generation of Hoffmans tills his ground, operating the family business now known as West End Florist and Garden Center on Mathias Hoffmann's farm.

Birth order was an important predictor of who would emigrate from Luxembourg a century ago, says Ms. Hoffman. The country adhered to the ancient law of primogeniture, whereby the eldest son inherited the family land. Younger siblings had a choice, she says: Be a slave to a brother, or "start fresh in the United States."

Many immigrants from Luxembourg who settled in Evanston took on the job they knew best, establishing truck farms and, later, greenhouses, that extended the growing season. At one time, says Ms. Hoffman, the area that is now the far northwest corner of Evanston was thickly populated with them.

Only the Hoffmans' "farm" still stands on Old Glenview Road, the others lost, Ms. Hoffman speculates, to skyrocketing property values and suburban sprawl.

"Very few businesses survive to the fourth generation," she says - "and even fewer live to be 100." She attributes her family's success to "communication between the generations" and to "love of the industry. Every generation had someone who loved it," she says.

Another part of their secret must lie in the family's willingness to adapt and change with the times.

The Hoffmanns expanded their truck garden to include cut flowers when the 1920s and ‘30s saw a spike in their popularity, she says. That was when they added "Florist" to the company name - and removed an "n" from theirs. By the 1950s they were accommodating more requests for annual bedding plants fueled by a gardening boom.

With the 1960s and ‘70s fad for houseplants ("and macramé," she notes), West End became "one of the larger producers in the area," even selling to Jewel, Dominick's and Kroger stores. In the 1980s gardeners found even less time to plant annuals from seed; they flocked to buy the annual bedding plants grown in West End greenhouses.

Elizabeth Hoffman made her own changes after becoming manager in 1997. A finance and management graduate of Indiana University, she says she is always looking for year-round income to support what she terms "expensive real estate."

She has expanded the garden center's selection of furniture, fountains, pots and tools. "Gardening gadgets are huge," she says. "Everyone is looking for a way to make things easier." In the fall they sell pumpkins, cornstalks and gourds. And in addition to carrying a huge array of Christmas trees and 25 kinds of greens in winter, they plow snow.

Ms. Hoffman also changed the focus of nursery operations. She now seeks out growers to produce the "newest, coolest" in annual flowers and has turned the West End greenhouses over to raising all the company's perennials - 13,000 of them in 350 varieties this year, including roses.

West End has signed on to the green movement. Ms. Hoffman says she is "a big fan" of integrated pest management, the minimal use of pesticides. She advises "the right plant in the right place," because happy plants are less susceptible to disease and insect damage. She advocates mechanical (pick off the bugs by hand) and cultural (for fungus, prune limbs to promote air circulation) control when possible. Only as a last resort does she condone pesticides, and she has suggestions for natural soaps and oils rather than chemicals.

As a perk of the company's large size, West End is working with one grower to develop a completely organic line of vegetables and herbs. Ms. Hoffman anticipates "a push from people wanting to grow their own food in the next five to ten years." Recent scares with food contamination would be one motivation, she says.

Another impetus, Ms. Hoffman says, would be a desire to get back to basics. "We have lost the agrarian side of the United States," she says; she predicts people will want to reclaim it.
Elizabeth Hoffman's parents, George and Patty, are still active in the company. Her brother heads operations at their nursery and garden center in Lake County. But Elizabeth, the great-granddaughter of a truck farmer who immigrated to America to escape old prototypes, is the first woman to head the family company. Hers is the vision for its second century.

Flowers, Bicycle Helmets and ‘Green' Bags For Evanston Plaza Neighbors

The six neighborhood groups near the Evanston Plaza shopping center at Dempster Street and Dodge Avenue won approval last week from the City's Economic Development Committee to spend slightly more than half of a neighborhood impact fund set up when the plaza was constructed. The fund - to which developer Joseph Freed has contributed $20,000 annually since 1999 - was set up to improve the neighborhood and help offset some of the impact of the plaza. The money in the fund, termed both a "mitigation" fund and a "neighborhood improvement" fund, is to be spent for improvements to the area between Greenwood and Lee streets (north and south) and between Florence and Hartrey avenues (east and west).

Now, having garnered nearly $200,000, the neighborhood groups have come up with four projects on which to spend the money: beautifying 55 corner parkways with plantings; funding two soccer teams; distributing 4,000 reusable shopping bags, called ChicoBags, to neighborhood families; and providing bicycle helmets, bike safety seminars and safety checks for all area bicycle and tricycle riders up to age 16. The total cost of all four projects is about $108,000, said Morris Robinson of the City's Planning Division. "The neighborhood groups and neighbors have been working very hard to bring this to fruition," he added.

Julie Westbrook, head of the West Crown Park Neighbors, gave Committee members sample ChicoBags, which hold up to 20 pounds of groceries. "And when you can't use them any more," she said, "the company will take them back and recycle them into something else."

Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, said she thought the proposals were "some of the most creative ideas I've seen."

Dickelle Fonda of Dewey-Darrow Neighbors thanked former Second Ward Alderman Dennis Drummer and the others who were Council members at the time for creating the fund. Dennis Marino of the Planning Department said a similar neighborhood fund was created when the Home Depot came to Oakton Street.

The committee unanimously approved the proposals to be forwarded to City Council for final approval.

Committee Discusses Request for $3 Million for Hahn Rehab

The City's Economic Development Committee discussed a request by developers Tim Anderson of Focus Development and James Klutznick of Klutznick-Fisher Development for money to help them with their proposal to purchase and rehab the landmark Hahn building. They requested $3 million, and the City consultants and City staff recommend $1 million less. However, the committee adjourned without making a decision.

The developers have asked the City to share $3 million of revenues generated by the tax-increment financing (TIF) district in which the entire Sherman-Church-Orrington-Davis block lies. The developers also propose to develop the adjacent 708 Church St. building with a 38-story mixed-use (retail and residential) building. Because that property also lies within the TIF district, the TIF revenues generated by the tower could be shared with the developer whose project is responsible for them. The cost of purchase and rehab of the Hahn building is just over $11 million, according to the developers' figures.

The developers have asked that the two projects be considered together and as part of a plan to develop the entire Fountain Square block. In a letter to City Manager Julia Carroll, Mr. Anderson said the developers felt the acquisition of the Hahn Building was crucial for the following reasons: It guarantees preservation of the landmark building and guarantees there will be height only at the north end of the block; it "opens the door" for the City to "pursue acquisition of the Fountain Square building (just north of Fountain Square) to allow for an expanded and renovated Fountain Square plaza as open space in the downtown; and it provides continued Class B office space in the downtown."

EDC members appeared to agree to treat the request for TIF funds separately from the developers' request for zoning relief on the Church Street property.

At the request of the City, Martin Stern of U.S. Equities (a frequent consultant on City projects) and Robert Rychlicki of Kane, McKenna (the City's TIF consultant) analyzed developers' figures. The U.S. Equities report recommended that the City give $2 million rather than $3 million to the developers.

Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, said, "If this building were not part of this [the 708 Church St.] project - and I have a strong feeling it shouldn't be - we can as a Council protect it.... I sincerely believe that the Hahn Building is so much for sale that somebody else is going to come along [and buy it]. The only reason I'm inclined to support this is because I believe these [developers] will protect the Hahn Building." She added the Anderson-Klutznick-Fisher team is the "cream of the crop" but said she was not willing to recommend $3 million.

Alderman Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward, said she was "sure that the Klutznick group is not going to bring a non-viable project to us." However, she said to Mr. Stern, "My sense is that the whole project is built on what they paid for 708 Church St. What you are telling us is that they're overpaying for the Hahn Building.... The fundamental issue is that someone prices the land based on what they think they can extract from City Council."

The Committee members agreed to continue the discussion but did not set a date. On May 7 the Planning and Development Committee voted to table the developers' request for zoning changes to allow them to build a 38-story tower at 708 Church St., something that will likely affect the developers' plans for the Hahn building.

Hahn Building Rehab

The developers have a contract to purchase the Hahn Building, Mr. Klutznick said. The rehab would be focused for the most part on the inside of the building, Mr. Anderson said: replacing the elevator, for example, and repartitioning the spaces. Tenants would not need to move during the rehab, Mr. Klutznick said. He said the office space in the Hahn Building would be Class B (an unofficial designation indicating good but not state-of-the-art space). "We have no intent to throw out any of the tenants," Mr. Klutznick said. "Some may leave because their leases came to an end; others may want to be bought out.... Having the Hahn Building will allow us to have a price-point on rents, lower than Class A, but a place for those who wish to transition from the 708 Church St. building."