Submitted by The Aux
The Aux, a $10 million project located on Evanston’s westside, reached a significant milestone in launching its first phase of construction. The entrepreneurial hub will become home to 10-plus Black-owned businesses that focus on community wellness with plans to support another 30 Black- and Brown-owned businesses as vendors, suppliers and contractors.
“After three years of dedicated effort, it’s exciting to see construction underway,” said Tiffini Holmes, an Aux co-developer. “Investing in this project means supporting efforts in Evanston to tackle racial gaps in real estate, boost the economy, build community wealth, and enhance community health. It’s a holistic approach recognizing how these issues intersect for stronger solutions.”
Aux co-developers, entrepreneurs and construction team members will toast the milestone on Monday, Nov. 20.
Ujamaa Construction, a Black-owned, Chicago-headquartered construction firm, oversees the project, which is projected to exceed 50% participation by minority and women-owned business enterprises.
Extended family
“The Aux is a project that embodies Ujamaa’s principles of treating each other as extended family through the principles of economic cooperation within the community. As Chicago’s leading diversity general contractor, we’re excited to bring The Aux to fruition, and we’re committed to exceeding our goal of MWBE hires,” Ujamaa chief executive Jimmy Akintonde said.
The Aux recently landed additional tenants SmoothieRX and Cielo Agave. Led by national homeless advocate Candice Payne, SmoothieRX is a growing Black-owned business anchored in Chicago’s South Loop that will expand to its first north side location in the Aux. Cielo Agave provides holistic therapies to address women’s health and will also operate a retail store selling wellness products in collaboration with a dozen Black and Hispanic local artisans.
The Aux has raised 60% of its $10M budget including $3.5 million in philanthropy and $2.5 million in public support. The project secured a bridge loan from IFF, a mission-driven lender headquartered in Chicago, that is enabling phase one construction to commence. New philanthropic contributors include the Lewis-Sebring Foundation and the Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation.
Sherman Phoenix model
Modeled after the Sherman Phoenix Marketplace in Milwaukee, the project uses an innovative real estate development model designed to upend barriers to development that historically have impacted communities of color.
“The success of the Sherman Phoenix is being studied and copied as a model of inclusive wealth building by communities of color. Eighty-five percent of the 46 Black entrepreneurs that have been located at the Sherman Phoenix are thriving after five years as compared to the typical 20% national success rates for Black-owned businesses,” said Juli Kaufmann, a principal at Fix Development that uses real estate as a tool for social change. “This project can be a prototype for wealth creation in Chicagoland communities who have been denied access to capital. It is intentionally for, by and of the community it will serve. This isn’t a social service intervention; it is an innovative bridge to resources and sustainable success.”
Like the Sherman Phoenix, The Aux’s capital stack includes both philanthropic support and community equity ownership to redress past inequities: pooling one-time public and private philanthropic support with community-owner investors to create a self-sustaining building. Community members can invest between $1,000 – $50,000 to become part of the Aux community ownership group.
Community ownership
This community ownership model is particularly critical in communities like Evanston, where gentrification is displacing families that have lived in the area for generations.
“The Aux represents a transformative force essential to reshaping Evanston’s business landscape, echoing a time when Black-owned enterprises were fundamental to the city’s ecosystem. The Aux will change the mindset of how our young people see success and help revitalize examples in business and in community, said Aux Co-Developer Tosha Wilson. Wilson was honored this month as a 2023 YWomen Leadership Honoree. The Aux Team was also honored with the Trailblazer Business Award by the Evanston/North Shore NAACP.
“This project’s holistic wellness model is a metaphor for the reparative good this project will do in building a model of Black-led businesses owning their own economic engines including a business incubator,’’ said Lori Laser, an Aux co-developer and a founder of the Growing Season.“This project reminds me of a saying from my own practice of meditation and mindfulness: ‘When you own your breath, no one can steal your peace.’”
The project is anticipated to be completed in 2024. Fundraising is still ongoing to raise the final $4 million in philanthropy and community equity over the final year of development. The vacant 16,500- square-foot industrial factory would become a holistic wellness hub including a laundry and café, healthy food catering business, health lab, mental health services, movement and fitness classes, mindfulness and meditation offerings, hair and beauty salon, entrepreneurial training hub and more. The Aux anticipates more than 200 community owners and a healthy impact on thousands of customers.
Thanks for extraordinary accomplishments within the community implementing subjective thoughts managing objectives forwarding assessments leading into a plan
Thanks for extraordinary accomplishments within the community
The Sherman Phoenix Marketplace in Milwaukee is really wonderful. Nice to see it helping out in the Chicago area.
So exciting! Congratulations!