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CHICAGO – Loyola University Chicago is offering a 24,700 SF world-class, high-rise, high-profile development site, located one block west of Chicago’s Water Tower landmark, through a sealed-bid offering, announced Michael R. Haney, President of Chicago-based Newcastle Advisors, LLC, which is providing advisory and disposition services to Loyola. Newcastle is a national real estate advisory and development firm serving not-for-profit organizations, institutions, investors, corporations and governmental agencies.
“This offering provides a rare and exceptional opportunity to develop a high-rise, mixed-use building in the heart of the Gold Coast/North Michigan Avenue neighborhood and the premiere Magnificent Mile shopping district,” said Haney whose offering investment CD-ROM is available to qualified developers.
The deadline for sealed-bid offers is Friday, October 11, of this year.
The development site fronts East Pearson Street between Rush Street and Wabash Avenue. “This offering provides the last opportunity to obtain unobstructed views of Lake Michigan by capitalizing on the open space above the historic Water Tower, Visitor Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Seneca Park and Lake Shore Park. This is the same view that the Park Hyatt Tower used successfully to achieve unprecedented condo sale prices.”
The Newcastle sealed-bid offering team includes S.L. van der Zanden, Senior Vice President, and Peter S. Tortorello, Associate.
Zoned B7-6 for high-rise residential, hotel, retail and office uses, the development site is located within the university’s Water Tower Campus. Currently there are two Loyola buildings on the site – the four-story 36,000 SF Marquette Center and the three-story 32,000 SF Siedenburg Hall. According to Haney, both buildings will be demolished next summer to make way for the new development, scheduled to begin in October of 2003.
“Loyola is offering the successful developer rights to lease and develop the site on a long-term basis. The new development will include approximately 40,000 SF of space for Loyola’s exclusive use to accommodate its requirement for academic space,” Haney said.
“Loyola realizes this site is highly under-utilized, both for the university and the surrounding community,” said Wayne Magdziarz, Vice President of Strategic Capital Planning at Loyola. “This development will be a major project that will enhance the university’s presence and attractiveness along the Pearson Street corridor from Michigan Avenue to State Street. In addition, the new space will provide better academic facilities to enhance faculty-student interaction with the very best use of technology.”
This project is the first phase of an overall master plan for Loyola’s Water Tower Campus, initiated by Rev. Michael J. Garanzini, S.J., who came to Loyola in September 2001 as President. The plan is anchored in an aggressive enrollment growth strategy. This fall, Loyola will welcome its second consecutive record-breaking freshman class. In the next few weeks, 1,650 freshmen will be arriving on campus, up from 1,424 students in last year’s freshman class.
“We’re leaving an open mind toward the development community to propose concepts for the site, while maintaining the university’s identity and design along the Pearson Street corridor,” said Magdziarz.
The Water Tower Campus master plan reinforces Loyola’s academic identity as the professional campus for the university. The campus serves as the home for Loyola’s School of Law, the School of Business Administration, the School of Social Work, and the School of Education.
The second and third phases of the master plan, which are being refined now, call for providing student residences for 450 upperclass undergraduates and graduate students, sufficient parking to support a sizable commuter population of students as well as faculty and staff, and a state-of-the-art wellness center and student union for the Loyola and surrounding community.
“Cross-disciplinary graduate programs and action research, based on the reflective practitioner model of learning, connect what happens in our classes with what happens in the worlds of commerce, jurisprudence, child and family development, and government service,” said Peter A. Facione, Ph.D., Provost of Loyola.
“These developments enable Loyola to better achieve its historic, yet still critically important, mission as Chicago's Jesuit university, that is to be a voice for reason and justice in our community and a place where all who seek personal and professional development can thrive, learn and grow,” said Facione.
Loyola University Chicago, ranked as a top national university and a “best value” for higher education by U.S. News & World Report, is one of the largest of the 28 Jesuit universities and colleges in the United States. Loyola has four campuses, three of which are in the greater Chicago area including the Water Tower Campus, the Lake Shore Campus on the North Side, and the Medical Center Campus in west suburban Maywood. It also has the Rome Center of Liberal Arts in Italy. To learn more about Loyola, visit the university’s website at www.luc.edu or contact Bud Jones, Associate Vice President of Public Relations, at (312) 915-6159.
About Newcastle Limited*
Newcastle Advisors, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago-based Newcastle Limited, a national commercial real estate firm serving governmental agencies, institutions, not-for-profit organizations, corporations and private investors. The firm’s strategic advisory, development and investment services are designed to reduce project risk and maximize asset value. To learn more about Newcastle, call Mike Haney at (312) 683-3113 or visit the company website at www.newcastleinvestors.com.