That sends the condominium developer back to the drawing board, as well as an upcoming sit-down with city officials and neighbors of the college, which is relocating to a building on Chicago's Goose Island.

Smithfield Properties principal Robert Buono disputes suggestions by aldermen that the property could be developed with 18 homes in the $2 million range, arguing the Evanston market has failed to embrace that product. However, 1st Ward Ald. Arthur B. Newman, chairman of the planning and development committee, argues the comparable sales used by Buono do not take into account the site's location near Lake Michigan.

Buono says the homes would have to sell for up to $2.3 million for an 18-home project to be feasible, nearly $1 million more than the city's highest end of the single-family bracket. Units in Smithfield Properties' proposal are in the $600,000 range, he says.

Meanwhile, the cost of each 7,200-sf single-family home site would be about $650,000 for acquisition, environmental remediation, infrastructure improvements and demolition of much of the college's 11-building, 160,000-sf campus.

"We're absolutely prepared to sit down and compromise. This project is not written in stone," Buono says. "Have we drawn up any other plans? Not that I would show anybody. They're not very good."