Evolve

The Evolve complex was supposed to help revitalize the south end of Illinois Avenue but 4 years after its opening, that end of downtown is still pretty empty. There are at least half a dozen empty storefronts in the immediate area with most empty for a couple of years. Bringing a good sized community of college students into downtown has not translated into increased foot traffic frequenting the area. The pandemic has quite a bit to do with it, of course, but those businesses were not seeing customers frequenting them even before March of last year.