Ishbia family taking swing at youth sports facility for vacant Office Depot

(Editor’s Note: Alex Harrison Perry reported this story for Evanston RoundTable, a neighboring independent newsroom. It was shared with The Record as part of an ongoing collaborative effort.)

The vacant Office Depot building at 2722 Green Bay Road — just a block south of Wilmette — could become a year-round site for youth sports, as a North Shore family with stakes in several professional teams is applying to build a new indoor practice facility on the site.

The Ishbia Family Foundation submitted to the city of Evanston on March 4 a zoning analysis application to build a two-story “youth sports practice, skills-training, and young player game facility” for baseball, flag football and soccer, according to weekly reports from Evanston City Manager Luke Stowe.

The project would move forward as a planned development; though the city has not yet posted any materials to its proposed developments webpage.

“Use of the facility would be limited to organized youth practices of both private and Evanston sports organizations, training sessions, clinics, camps, and private group events,” the project’s description states. “The facility will operate year-round to host planned events.”

The foundation is headed by Justin Ishbia, the billionaire founder of private equity firm Shore Capital Partners, who owns a minority stake in the Chicago White Sox and could become the team’s majority owner as soon as 2029. He also holds a part-owership stake in the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury basketball teams alongside his brother Mat Ishbia, the billionaire CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage.

Project spokesperson Sarah Hamilton told the RoundTable the proposed facility is a new venture for the nonprofit, which was founded in 2023.

“The Ishbia Family Foundation has a focus on youth sports,” she wrote in an emailed statement, “and this new indoor facility will provide Evanston kids with year-round access to baseball, softball, soccer, and flag football.”

Hamilton added that the applicants hope to have a Land Use Commission hearing “later this spring or early summer.”

The proposed site has been vacant since Office Depot closed in fall 2024. Previous plans to turn the space into a new Aldi grocery store fell through.

Councilmember Parielle Davis, whose Seventh Ward includes the proposal’s site, wrote in a recent newsletter that the facility would add access to youth sports “where no indoor sports facility exists on the north side currently.” The city’s south end hosts the TOCA Soccer and Sports Center at 2454 Oakton St.

“With multi-level playing fields, parent viewing areas, and a welcoming gathering space, it’s designed with Evanston families in mind,” Davis wrote. “There will be no tournaments or large-scale events.”

Davis told the RoundTable on Monday she’s “cautiously optimistic” about the proposal in its current early form.

The Ishbias have been active in other North Shore public processes. In 2022, Justin and his wife Kristen consolidated multiple lakefront properties in Winnetka to clear the way for a single large home, which remains under construction. That home is south of Winnetka’s Elder Park and Centennial Park beaches, which are separated by another property owned by the Ishbias.

A planned land swap and beach overhaul project initially announced in 2020 has become a yearslong and ongoing saga of public opposition, lawsuits and tension between Winnetka’s village government and park district. The park district’s board voted in January 2024 to accept a $3 million donation from the Ishbia Family Foundation as part of the deal, but recent changes to the beach project’s design could put that donation in jeopardy.

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