The Chicago Tribune reports that "a theatrical space for Northlight, which is a member of the national League of Resident Theatres, is part of a proposed new mid-rise development in the downtown core of the university city, just north of Chicago...In essence, the developer would build for Northlight the shell of a flexible, roughly 400-seat mainstage theater, possibly alongside two smaller spaces, which would be used by Northlight for more experimental work. Those smaller spaces (perhaps a 200-seat theater and a 99-seat black box) would also likely be available to other theater companies, although how all of that would work is still up in the air."

Northlight's artistic director BJ Jones said, "We just need to grow. From my point of view, it's all about the art. Almost every season has an infusion of new and fresh work. This will give us a lot more flexibility of programming."

One of Northlight's main arguments for the move is economic development. Evanston's downtown is full of restaurants, and it is likely audience members would go shopping or out to eat before or after seeing a show presented by Northlight.

Northlight is still in negotiations with the village of Skokie to continue using their current space until a new space is secured. They are also scoping out other potential new homes.

Wally Bobkiewicz, Evanston's city manager, said, "The next critical piece of this is for the community to get excited about what can happen."