New Market at Church/Dodge

by Mary Helt Gavin

Starting June 14, the tired, cracked asphalt of the parking lot at Church and Dodge will be home to one of the freshest places in town, as the West End Market (www.westendmarket.org) will be a Saturday regular at the easily overlooked space.

Fresh produce from regional farms will be sold from 7 a.m. to noon each week on the southeast corner of Church Street and Dodge Avenue, which serves as a parking lot for Evanston Township High School on weekdays.

Having a fresh-food market on the west side of town dates back to conversations between community members and members of the Evanston Community Development Corporation, a not-for-profit entity whose aim is to help revitalize Evanston's west side.

Delores Holmes was president and an active member of ECDC until her election as Fifth Ward alderman. "Back in 2003-04 we started talking about doing something on Church Street all the time," Ald. Holmes told the RoundTable. "If you have eyes on the street, there won't be the drug dealing and hanging out, because neighbors will be watching," she said.

Carolina Pfister, who directed the BooCoo Community Center across the street from the new market's site, persuaded some of her colleagues in the spring Leadership Evanston class to look at economic development possibilities in the Church/Dodge area.

Susan Besson, another member of the class and one of the organizers of the market, said, "We weren't sure whether we'd do a study or launch a market, but we've hit the ground running. It's been a very exciting adventure."

One farmer and two vendors have signed on for the season, Ms. Besson said, and the group has made arrangements to procure fresh produce from other local and regional producers. In addition to fresh food, the market will offer Evanston-made arts and crafts. "There are a lot of creative people who live in the Fifth and Second Ward; they can sell their work here," she said.

Ald. Holmes said even though the market will be "small to start with," she feels it has a lot of potential. The group is "working out the details" for ECDC to sponsor the market, she said, adding, "The volunteers who set it up and plan to run it are wonderful."

Ms. Pfister said the new market wil complement the efforts already made in revitalizing the Church/Dodge area.

The market should create at least one job, said Ms. Besson, and possibly another half-time job. Long-term, the market group hopes to create an ongoing relationship with The Talking Farm - an Evanston effort to grow and sell food locally.

Noting that the opening of the West End Market coincides with rising oil prices and skyrocketing food prices worldwide, she said, "I wish it weren't for these reasons that the opening is such good timing."

ENH Agrees to Buy Rush North Shore Medical Center

Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corporation (ENH) has entered into an agreement to acquire Rush North Shore Medical Center, a 265-bed hospital located at 9600 Gross Point Road in Skokie. ENH currently owns and operates hospitals in Evanston, Glenview and Highland Park.

On May 13 ENH filed a letter of intent with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board in which it stated it intended to ask the Board to allow the change of ownership. In its filing, ENH said the purchase price is estimated at $85 million for the property, plant and equipment. In addition, ENH said it will make a $10 million contribution to the Rush North Shore Foundation, which will operate as a separate charitable foundation to support health and wellness in Skokie and surrounding communities.

Under the Planning Board's rules, ENH is required to file the letter of intent at least 30 days before filing a formal application to allow the change of ownership. Once the application is deemed complete, members of the public may request a public hearing on the application. If a public hearing is requested, ENH must prepare a summary stating the anticipated benefits of the proposed change of ownership to the community and the anticipated cost savings, if any, for the community.

Because the transaction is for more than $63 million, ENH must also obtain pre-merger clearance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Department of Justice to proceed with the acquisition, Mitch Katz, an FTC senior public affairs specialist, told the RoundTable. Mr. Katz said ENH would be required to submit a pre-merger package summarizing the transaction and the likely impact on competition.

This will be the second hospital acquisition by ENH in the last eight years. In 2000 ENH acquired Highland Park Hospital. In 2007, the FTC affirmed a decision by an administrative law judge that concluded ENH's acquisition of Highland Park Hospital was anticompetitive and violated the antitrust laws. On April 28 the FTC entered a final order specifying a detailed remedy intended to restore competition lost as a result of that acquisition. Among other things, the order requires Evanston and Highland Park hospitals to establish separate negotiating teams to negotiate contracts with managed care organizations, with the intent of re-injecting competition between the hospitals for the business of the managed care organizations. The FTC did not order ENH to divest Highland Park Hospital.

In its filing with the Planning Board, ENH said it expects to effectuate the deal in October if necessary regulatory approvals are obtained. Jim Anthony, ENH director of public relations, told the RoundTable ENH would not provide additional comment on the acquisition.

Planning Board Approves ENH New Cancer Treatment Center

On May 20 the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board approved ENH's application to construct a new 54,000-square-foot building to house the Kellogg Cancer Care Center at a cost of $30.6 million. The new building will have five levels, a mechanical penthouse, and a basement for storage and mechanicals. The ground and first floors will house the outpatient cancer center, and the remaining floors will house environmental services, physician education and administrative services. The cancer center will include 30 chemotherapy treatment rooms and 16 exam rooms.

Evanston Hospital currently has more than 30 oncologists on staff, and it plans to recruit another 11 over the next five years. It projects it will provide about 13,000 treatments in 2011. The Evanston City Council approved zoning changes to permit the new building earlier this month.