The Evanston city council rejected James Pritzker’s proposal to turn the Harley Clarke mansion into a hotel.

After a meeting Monday night, the Evanston City Council rejected a proposal turn the historic Harley Clarke mansion into a boutique hotel.

A previous Chicago Agent article mentioned that James Pritzker’s company, Tawani Enterprises, proposed to purchase the mansion and 2.5 acres of lakefront property for $1.2 million to develop a 57-room boutique hotel and 200-car underground parking garage.

Evanston residents are relieved about the Harley Clarke mansion

Even though the company intended to maintain public access to the grounds and the beach, many Evanston residents did not like the idea of selling public lakefront property.

“I’m thrilled that they decided to stop the process and try to find some sort of more appropriate adaptive use for the building and the land,” Adam King, an Evanston resident, told ABC7 News last night.

The Harley Clarke mansion has been the home of the Evanston Arts Center for 46 years, but the center plans to move into a bigger place. The future of the mansion has yet to be determined, but many more city council meetings are scheduled to plan for it.