Chicago Journal February 14, 2008 Volume 8, No

FREE CHICAGO JOURNAL February 14, 2008 Volume 8, No. 12 NEWS OF SOUTH LOOP, NEAR WEST AND WEST LOOP Dorm do-over Pittsfield Building converts to student housing in the Loop BY ERIC KASANG Photo by Josh Hawkins Contributing Writer The Pittsfield Building, 55 E. Washington, will be occupied by college students. he historic Pittsfield Building, 55 E. Washington, will soon find itself to parents than regular apartment buildings Herman Crown building at 425 S. State St., occupied by a new generation of ten- mainly because of security issues. and tear it down. T ants: college students. Alter Group, a “You have a choice between an apartment In the Pittsfield Building, Karow said, a Skokie-based development company, recent- run by a traditional landlord or you can live in shared apartment will cost $9,400 year. A ly purchased floors 13 through 21 and will a building with 24-hour security,” Silva said. single bedroom apartment will cost $11,350 convert them into two- and three-bedroom Alter Group will redevelop 147,000 square annually. dorm rooms, according to Tom Silva, vice feet, scheduled to be ready for fall semester The Pittsfield renovation comes at a time president of marketing for Alter. 2008. The company noted on a press state- when there is an increasing demand for stu- Silva said with the influx of students ment that the building has enough space for dent housing downtown. A 2005 survey con- attending higher education institutions in 450 to 588 bedrooms, depending on how big ducted by academics at DePaul University the Loop, the developer saw an opportunity they are. and the University of Illinois at Urbana- in the student housing market. The 38-story Pittsfield building was briefly Champaign called “Higher Education in the “There are more than 50,000 students in the world’s tallest building when it was com- Loop and South Loop: An Impact Study,” the downtown area,” Silva said. “There’s a pleted in 1927. The building, which combines focused on students working, living and demand for student housing and we see it as Art Deco and Gothic detailing, features an spending money in the Loop. a great market.” interior with a five-story atrium adorned by In the survey, researchers noted that the Roosevelt University has leased four levels brasses and carvings in the Spanish-gothic “Chicago Loop is the largest college town for its students and Robert Morris College will style, according to the Alter Group statement. in Illinois, with 52,230 students attending rent three levels from Alter Group. Silva said n classes at institutions that together occupy the company has leased about 350 bedrooms Thomas Karow, a spokeman for Roosevelt nearly 7.5 million total gross square of Loop and it is pitching additional dormitories to University, said there were many reasons real estate – more than double the space of other downtown colleges and universities. why Roosevelt the chose to lease the floors the Sears Tower.” The developer will renovate the rooms, for its students. The survey also found that college students creating more upscale living quarters for “The design, which features apartment- represented an expanding “living-and-learn- the Generation Y or Internet Generation style housing, is a real advantage to us. ing community” and housing sectors like students. Along with 10-foot ceilings, each Location was really important. We have a the University Center at State and Congress dorm will include a kitchen and bathroom, facility called the Gage Building very close have an annual economic spending impact comparable to a Loop apartment. There will and it’s not far to the Auditorium Building. of $58.7 million. be a private 24-hour entrance for students in It’s convenient,” Karow said. “It’s got good The study noted that 10 institutions spent addition to the building’s main entrance. transportation access, it’s near Millennium more than $129 million in renovation in the Silva said while Alter is still putting togeth- Park, the band shell and shopping and all the downtown area from 1997 to 2002, and that stu- er numbers on the dormitory cost, it would be conveniences students like.” dents spend about $25 million annually in the similar to renting downtown. He said the hope Karow said the timing for such a project Loop in restaurants, bars and drug stores. is that Pittsfield dormitories will appeal more is right, as Roosevelt is planning to close its Micah Maidenberg contributed reporting..

Load more