Evanston’s UrbanEco on Grant brings 12 micro homes to market

Five of the 12 homes at UrbanEco on Grant were already sold or under contract, and that early pace is the clearest sign this tiny-house-style project is more than a curiosity. On 1915-1917 Grant St. in Evanston, Illinois, the development is bringing 12 600-square-foot micro homes to market at starting prices of $369,000, a number that puts the project in a far more attainable lane than the usual single-family teardown play in the Chicago area.

The homes are being built as a pocket neighborhood, not a one-off showpiece. Each unit has two bedrooms, one bathroom, an open living-dining-kitchen layout, and a small front patio, a straightforward plan that reads like compact ownership housing rather than extreme downsizing. The lot could normally fit only two traditional single-family houses, which is exactly why the project has drawn attention from people watching how high-cost suburbs absorb density without jumping straight to large apartment blocks.

What makes the build stand out is the construction system. The homes are going up from prefabricated, insulated wall panels, and David Wallach of XYiP Homes has described the wall-panel setup as a “giant Yetti.” The builder says the shell of each home can be assembled in about a day and a half, another detail that matters in a market where labor, time and carrying costs can bury small projects before they ever reach buyers.

UrbanEco on Grant also has the kind of backstory that tells you how hard it is to get middle-scale housing approved in Evanston. The City Council approved the project on March 11, 2024, after the Land Use Commission had voted against it. Council members added a bond or insurance-style requirement to protect against developer default, and the plan itself had already been revised from an earlier 2023 version that called for 13 micro homes, including three units above a rear garage structure. The final design trimmed that to 12 homes.

That approval now looks even more consequential in light of Evanston’s broader zoning fight. The city adopted Envision Evanston 2045 on January 26, 2026, and says the follow-on zoning update is meant to revise regulations and the zoning map so they match the new comprehensive plan. Officials have also said existing zoning rules make some duplexes and other modest housing types illegal in large parts of the city. UrbanEco on Grant lands right in that debate, and the early sales suggest buyers are ready for a smaller, newer, ownership-oriented product when the price, scale and site make sense.