Where's Downtown?

Slate Design: Furniture with Mass Appeal, Individual Value

Downtown, Ever Upward

Development Proposals Available for Reference at EPL

Slate Design: Furniture with Mass Appeal, Individual Value

By Victoria Scott
The fact that his back office in the building at 1525 Greenleaf St. has no windows does not restrict Mark Daniel's vision.

Using only a laptop computer and his lively imagination, the 35-year-old has created in Slate Design a flourishing furniture design company whose clients include Crate and Barrel, Design within Reach, and Marshall Field's.

And while Mr. Daniel occupies but a small space in Evanston, the world is his workshop.

The pieces he dreams up here are for the most part manufactured on the other side of the globe. So two or three times a year, instead of walking five blocks to work, he flies to southern China to confer with people he describes as "amazing artisans." The relationship nourishes him, he says: "It's a partnership, me learning from them."

That sort of modesty is a constant refrain in his story, which begins in Atlanta, Ga., where he spent his childhood and stayed on to pursue an architecture degree at Georgia Tech. Until he went to the École des Beaux Arts in Paris for his junior year, he had never left the Southeast United States. "It was the best year of my life," he says, a time to see things he knew only from books and to explore Europe.

Hooked on travel and lured by Chicago's legendary architecture, he contacted a friend here after graduation in 1992. "I packed up the car, drove up– and started selling futons," he says.

The next year he met an architect whose company, Modulus Inc., imported furniture from Southeast Asia. Mr. Daniel spent four years at the company, working his way up from draftsman to head of product development and making valuable manufacturing contacts.

He gained a different kind of experience with the architecture/interior design firm Jordan Mozer & Associates, whose services extend to shaping total environments for the Cirque de Soleil and the Bellagio in Las Vegas. While with Jordan Mozer, he not only created what he calls "high-end, ‘one-of' pieces," but also discovered the world of Chicago job shops – factories where five or six employees carry on the storied Chicago traditions of steel and millwork.

His hands-on job immersed him in a collaborative process he praises as "the best education you could get" – welding in a factory, for example – and instilled an entrepreneurial spirit that led him to venture out on his own. In 1999, fearing a fate "stuck as an in-house designer," he says, he founded Slate Design. With a new baby and a new house, he at first kept his job, working nights from the home office that was his headquarters until recently.

He had already come to terms with the fact that "one-of pieces' are not in my reality," though some custom designs are available through his website. Then a friend introduced him to representatives from Design within Reach, Field's, and Crate and Barrel at the furniture trade show in High Point, N.C., and his future turned toward mass marketing.

He has no regrets. He finds it "very satisfying," for example, that the current Crate and Barrel catalog featuring nine of his pieces reached an audience of 1½ million. "Right now, I like the flexibility. I am really enjoying what I am doing," he says – designing everything from upholstered chairs to spice racks. Because he receives a commission, he says, "It is in my interest to design what sells, but also to bring design value to the pieces."

One of his tasks is to help the catalog companies differentiate their styles as they compete for "exclusive designs." While Mr. Daniel describes his personal style as modern, he calls himself a "chameleon." He is comfortable with work that "is not about me. You try to understand what they want." Mr. Daniel works on four or five things at once; with business booming, he hired designer Diana Lu in January.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, he says. He often begins sketching while talking to a buyer. Typically, he has refined a design within days, using the 3-D modeling software on his laptop. Then he e-mails the design to the manufacturer.

"I have to be mindful of the production cost," he says. And drawing up specifications is like "mobilizing an army overseas. If I specify the wrong hole size, it can stop the production line and cost thousands of dollars." But if all goes smoothly, a sample can arrive from China within a month and a half via FedEx, he says.

Recently his Loom Bench was a finalist in the Modern Functional Design contest in Chicago. But Mark Daniel does not mind anonymity. "I'm not an ego-driven designer who wants my name on things," he says. At some friends' house recently he noticed a dining room table he had designed. They did not know. "That's the ultimate compliment," he says.

Learn more at www.slatedesign.com.

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Where's Downtown?

By Bill Smith
The Evanston Plan Commission's downtown plan committee will try to answer that question when it meets on Wednesday morning, March 15.

Developers had to revise their plans twice for this high-rise at 1567 Maple Ave.

The answer will matter as the commission moves on to develop new rules about what should be built in the most intensely developed section of the city.

For a downtown study two years ago, City planners decided downtown is the area bounded by Emerson Street, Elgin Road and Clark Street on the north, Hinman Avenue on the east, Lake Street on the south and Asbury Avenue on the west.

Optima's David Hovey has proposed yet another high rise, this one at 1515 Chicago Ave.

But David Galloway, a plan commission associate member, says when members of Design Evanston did a streetscape survey recently, they concluded that some areas inside, but near the edges of that boundary do not look like downtown, while other areas that are outside the line do seem to qualify for inclusion.

Mather LifeWays, Davis Street at Hinman Avenue, proposes two 10-story buildings.

Diane Williams, executive director of EvMark, the marketing association for downtown, said the boundaries will also be important in considering renewal soon of the special downtown tax district that funds EvMark's programs.

The developer of 1881 Oak Ave. has gone back to the drawing board but hopes for a high-rise condominium development.

Dennis Marino, assistant director of the City's planning division, told the committee at its March 1 meeting that while the City's comprehensive plans for several decades have set the west boundary at Asbury, people have frequently argued that the line should be drawn a block east, at Ridge Avenue.

Community Development Director James Wolinski said the committee should consider what parts of downtown should stay the same, "because right now it appears that all of downtown is up for grabs, as developers look at it."

"Davis Street west of the tracks is going to be under assault," Mr. Wolinski said, "although I probably shouldn't call it that."

"We need redevelopment, but need to decide how much is enough. Perhaps we should have some landmark districts downtown that should remain as is," he added.

"I'm not sure some of those ‘landmarks' are going to stand up much longer," Plan Commissioner Larry Widmayer said. "Are we talking about leaving them untouched – or limiting the redevelopment height?"

Mr. Galloway suggested involving the Preservation Commission in an evaluation of downtown buildings. "Regardless of whether we end up making it a landmark, they can rate the architectural integrity of a building."

Ms. Williams said some buildings downtown, including the Hahn Building, which faces both Sherman and Orrington Avenues south of Church Street, already are landmarks.

Mr. Galloway said Davis Street west of the tracks now provides a "very beneficial, decompressive quality as you move toward the serene residential area along Ridge and Asbury."

Rental rates for retail space on that part of Davis also are lower, Mr. Widmayer said, falling from $40 per square foot in the center of downtown to $20 per square foot on that part of Davis.

"That's very significant in attracting small local retailers," he added.
Mr. Wolinski said it now seems "developers are driving the development, as opposed to the City saying what it wants to see."

He said the Fountain Square block may be the next area in play, and that developer Tom Roszak "is coming to see me about that block, and I'm sure he has plans for a lot of density there."

Committee members also said they hope to figure out ways to make it more appealing to walk around downtown by providing more public art and improving lighting, street furniture, landscaping and signage.

Development Proposals Available for Reference at EPL

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Downtown, Ever Upward

By Bill Smith
The proposed Optima Promenade planned development at 1515 Chicago Ave. drew strong support at a Plan Commission hearing Wednesday from the Chamber of Commerce and Design Evanston.

But neighbors opposed to the 18-story project objected that it would eliminate views from older condominium buildings nearby and voiced fears it would depress prices for their units.

James Torvik of Design Evanston said the Optima proposal is "an excellent example of a fine downtown building" that likely will be recognized "far beyond our City's border." It is, he said, "a unique and dynamic addition to Chicago Avenue.

"The building massing is highly sophisticated, carefully composed, interesting, even alluring," said Mr. Torvik, an architect who lives at 212 Dempster St.

He said Design Evanston, an ad hoc group of architects and other design professionals, was asked to review the Optima project by the City and the developer.

Jonathan Perman, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, said the mixed-use retail, office and residential condo project's height and floor area ratio fully comply with the zoning for the site.

He said the development would attract more diners and shoppers to downtown.

"You'll hear critics say that Evanston has grown too much," Mr. Perman said, "but we have 4,000-5,000 fewer people than we did at our population peak. This City can handle another 175 units."

He said Evanston's schools need more funds, and the Promenade project would generate $1.6 million a year in new school tax revenue.

"Most cities have to lure great architects with incentives and commissions," Mr. Perman said. "We've had David Hovey generating award-winning designs here in Evanston" for the past 20 years.

But neighbor Chris Westerberg of 525 Grove St. said many of the units in her building only have windows facing north, and those living below the fifth floor would only have views of the new building's parking garage.

She also objected to the placement of the tallest portion of the Promenade at the south end of the site, near her building.

Optima representatives said the decision had been made to lessen the height at the north and west sides of the site, which creates more setback from Davis Street and Chicago Avenue. They also said that because of the orientation of the sun, the new building would not cast shadows on its neighbor to the south.

David Hornthal, who lives in the Optima Towers development a block west at 1580 Sherman Ave., said a dozen units in that building have a view of Lake Michigan that would be blocked by the new structure. He voiced fears those units would lose value.

Gene Thiele, president of the condominium board at 1500 Hinman Ave., said drivers emerging from the alley behind his building often honk their horns. He said he worried increased traffic in the alley from the new development would lead to more horn-honking, especially late at night.

The developer's traffic consultant responded that even at rush-hour peaks, he anticipates no more than 25 additional vehicles per hour exiting the alley onto Grove.

The four-hour hearing ended with neighbors still posing questions to the development team. The neighbors will get a chance to present their full arguments against the project when the hearing continues at 7 p.m. on April 5.

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