New $800 million Ryan Field plan could be good for Evanston — but only if both sides benefit

Rendering of the new Ryan Field at Northwestern University. (Provided)

Northwestern University is an asset to Evanston, no doubt. And that’s been the case since the institution opened there in 1851.

But the private university has also benefited immensely over the past 170 years from being located in Evanston — a beautiful, leafy city on the prosperous and well-educated North Shore — building itself a striking 240-acre campus, most of it along the picturesque lakefront.