A new hub for Black-owned businesses is opening in Evanston, IL.
Led and owned by a team of predominantly Black community leaders, The Aux is a 16,000-square-foot commercial space that will feature a wellness studio with services provided by practitioners of color, pop-up marketplaces for healthy food entrepreneurs, flexible space for small business owners, and office and co-working areas, according to information on its website.
“We are transforming a vacant property into a beautiful, environmentally sustainable building that emphasizes a quadruple bottom line for cultural, social, economic, and environmental impact,” The Aux website reads.
The Aux acquired the property in 2021 and in that same year announced it was seeking a $6 million raise to renovate the space — a project managed by Black-owned, Chicago, IL-based firm Ujamaa Construction. The project’s final cost increased to $10 million with support from public and private donors, per the Evanston Roundtable.
In 2022, the City of Evanston and nearby Northwestern University partnered with The Aux and Sunshine Enterprises to develop the space as an a business incubator for entrepreneurs of color. The City of Evanston awarded the project $1 million.
Now it is projected that the hub will eventually be home to more than 40 Black-owned businesses in addition to creating over 30 permanent jobs and training opportunities, notes Evanston Now.
“This is going to be fantastic,” said Laura Lane Taylor, managing director of programs at Sunshine Enterprises, as well as project partner, said, according to the outlet. “West Evanston has been home to the African American community and this is going to be a place that is going to be very welcoming … a place that is going to lift up entrepreneurs.”
Already, The Aux has secured various permanent and pop-up tenants, which include:
- Chicky’s Kitchen Creation
- The Aux Wellness Collective
- Embrace Your Crown salon
- The Laundry Cafe
- Aux Ikun
- Sokana Collective
- Unseen Roots Podcast Studio
- And more
The Aux is projected to celebrate its grand opening on May 10, 2025.
