Here is the note I sent to DevCorp about Gateway development and the rather sad response:

Good Afternoon,

I live near Fargo and Greenview and I pass through Gateway Center's bus terminal every day going to and from work. Recently, I noticed that there has been a great deal of activity on the lower level in the southwest wing that faces the bus depot. I am quite interested to know what businesses are setting up shop. Any information you have would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I initially tried to send this note to info@devcorpnorth.org but it was returned accounting to the mailbox being full.

Sincerely,

Michael K

Dear Michael -

Thanks for the email and follow up. I'll make sure that the info account gets cleared so others don't get that error message in the future. Based on a recent email from the leasing agent for Gateway, this is what I know:

An ordinance approving the vertical subdivision of the 3-story commercial building at Gateway Centre Plaza was passed at the September 14 city council meeting. Upon obtaining a recordable document, the closing will be scheduled for the sale to Life Storage Centers. Life Storage Centers is an upscale operator of environmentally controlled public storage space that will occupy approximately 104,000 square feet on the Paulina level of Gateway with their main office and retail sales at 7524 N. Paulina facing the plaza. Anticipated opening is January 2006.

On September 2, 2005, Spirit Halloween Stores opened for business in the 10,000 square foot space between Marshalls and Dominick's. This is a temporary lease through November 15, 2005. The leasing company is trying to identify a permanent tenant for this space.

There are currently three (3) leases and one (1) letter of intent currently under negotiation for space at the Gateway Centre and Gateway Centre Plaza.

The construction of the pedestrian walkway which will connect to the new Howard Street Terminal with the Gateway Centre atrium will be coordinated with the CTA during construction of their new building. Depending on the CTA timeline, the leasing agents do not foresee this construction beginning until 2007.

Hope this helps

Kimberly

A storage facility? That's the best we can do? I thought we were trying to increase foot traffic and retail sales. Long term storage isn't the kind of bustling pedestrian business we need. If we're serious about attracting better business to this area we need to do far better than this. No wonder there are no "Coming Soon" signs. Noone wants to be Evanston's closet. What a joke.