Amber Holst has given up some of the typical joys of college life.
She does not stroll on a grassy campus, play Frisbee on the quad or attend fall football games. But that doesn’t bother her in the least.
Holst is a student at Columbia College, whose Michigan Avenue main building is set on the largest, most exciting “campus” in Illinois. You could call it “Downtown Chicago U.”
With an estimated enrollment of 40,000 students in and near the Loop, downtown Chicago is a growing hot spot for education.
Holst, who comes from a suburban environment, wanted more diversity: “Some people find downtown to be a culture shock, but I feel comfortable and perfectly safe there.”
Holst, who is editor of the Columbia Chronicle, the school newpaper, wants to find a job in print journalism after graduation. She thinks an urban school is more reality based: “Some students at campuses just want to have fun.”
The vibrancy of the 24-hour city is one of its lures.
“Chicago is a great college town,” said Ken McHugh, DePaul University’s vice president of operations.
“Downtown Chicago is alive. It’s a magnet that draws students from the metropolitan area, the region and the world,” said Theodore Gross, president of Roosevelt University.
Gross attributes the increased popularity of downtown Chicago learning to the “enormous renaissance in the South Loop and to the greatest concentration of cultural attractions in the world.”
The latest addition to Chicago’s burgeoning boom in higher education is the new School of the Art Institute dormitory at the northwest corner of State and Randolph Streets.
It is a blend of the old and new. A 17-story structure has been seamlessly attached to the rehabbed Butler Building, the 1924 terra cotta-clad structure at 162 N. State. Designed for 491 students, the dorm already is 90 percent occupied.
Student residences run from the 5th to the 15th floors. A computer lab, study lounge, media room, gallery and studio are on the 16th, while the dramatic 17th floor is devoted to the Solarium Studios and Lounge, with views of the Loop and the lake through round, porthole-like windows.
“The building was designed by artists for artists,” said Tony Jones, president of the School of the Art Institute. “We asked students, faculty and staff for their ideas, which have been incorporated into the building. We created artist lofts with big walls for their works.”
The dormitory construction was completed in 14 months, though more features of the project are yet to come.
The $54 million project also will include a Borders bookstore and the new home of the Gene Siskel Film Center. Plus, a local theater company, The Noble Fool, will move into the former Old Heidelberg Building, which fronts on Randolph. The building’s Bavarian-style facade will be restored.
“The dorms are Rolls-Royce quality,” declared Jones.
The 450-square-foot rooms are loaded with amenities — individual heating and air conditioning controls, private bath, track lighting, drafting tables, phone lines with voicemail and Internet connections, and a mini-kitchen with refrigerator, microwave and stovetop.
All this goes for $700 a month for a double and $850 for a single, plus tuition, of course.
Furniture for the residences has been designed by Michael Heltzer, a former student.
Though many college dorms built in previous eras may be far from deluxe, times have changed and expectations are higher.
“Kids won’t tolerate the plain dorms of the past,” said W. Harris (Bill) Smith, principal of Smithfield Properties, the developer. “This is a big issue all over the U.S. Now colleges have to provide good housing to attract students.”
Surprisingly, the Loop is the cheapest place in the greater downtown area to acquire old buildings for conversion into educational facilities, according to Smith: “Space on Washington (in the Loop) may cost $30 to $40 a square foot, but $70 in River North. The West Loop also is expensive.”
High-rise construction at a busy intersection in the Loop presented its own set of problems. “We had to make a lot of deliveries of materials in the middle of the night,” said Smith.
Architect Laurence Booth of Booth/Hansen & Associates designed the new dorm to suggest the look of the Reliance Building, Daniel Burnham’s 106-year-old landmark at State and Washington Streets.
Smith currently is rehabbing the 17-story Evans Building, dating from the 1920s, at the northwest corner of State and Monroe for the School of the Art Institute. Completion is expected in January 2001.
The next major boost to downtown student living could be the proposed “super dorm” at State Street and Congress Parkway on land that is now a South Loop parking lot.
Planned for 1,600 beds, it has the backing of Mayor Richard Daley: “It’s a needed facility. It’s a challenge but we’re trying to work it out.”
Daley, interviewed at the dedication of the new Art Institute dorm, said the super dorm “is important in the rebirth of the city.”
He added that colleges and universities have “a huge economic impact and bring young people downtown to add to the spirit of the city.”
The city’s Department of Planning and Development is considering a proposal for the new academic center.
Besides dorms, the $200 million complex would include academic areas, stores and parking. It would be built on city-owned land. Four schools–DePaul University, Roosevelt University, Columbia College and Robert Morris College–are trying to work out the details of the plan with the city.
Columbia College already has 344 beds for students, with 112 more coming at the Hosteling International building at 24 E. Congress.
A report by the planning department notes that “colleges and universities have become increasingly prominent in the South Loop.”
The State/Congress property (the proposed site of the super dorm) “is located in a growing academic and cultural district” surrounded by such uses as MacCormac College, DePaul University, School of the Art Institute, Roosevelt University, John Marshall Law, Spertus College, Columbia College and Robert Morris College.
The proposed super dorm would be a huge benefit, according to Vince Norton, senior vice president for advancement at Robert Morris College, which currently has no downtown student residences.
Robert Morris, located at 401 S. State St., reports an increased enrollment. “We were up 14 percent last year and 10 percent this year,” said Norton.
“This is a world-class city. What better place is there to study?”
Another benefit of urban education is the opportunity for part-time employment and internships in the field being studied, Norton said.
DePaul University has been looking for downtown housing for 10 years, according to McHugh: “In a test a year ago, we found 1,200 students who said they would live downtown. The Loop has become a livelier place, with stronger retail and the blossoming of the Theater District.”
McHugh said DePaul would be able to use 600 beds of the proposed super dorm at State and Congress: “I’m encouraged about the proposal. It would solve a pent-up demand. But we’re also looking at other housing options.”
Roosevelt University already is expanding its classroom space. It has leased the first five floors of a 12-story building at 18 S. Michigan Ave. and will renovate major portions of its long-time home, the Auditorium Building, 430 S. Michigan Ave. Both buildings are national historic landmarks designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan.
Projected to be ready in November, the 82,000 square feet of new space will increase Roosevelt’s instructional capacity by 40 percent at its downtown facility. Called the Center for Professional Advancement, it will have 25 classrooms, 7 computer classrooms and labs, 5 student lounges, an electronic library and offices for faculty and staff.
The impetus for the $10 million renovation project at the new location was spurred by growing enrollments. Last semester the Chicago campus enrollment was up 7.4 percent over the previous year.
With the increased demand, Roosevelt’s Gross sees a need for more housing: “We’re seriously looking at more student housing.”
The economic impact of student spending is significant, according to Bert Gall, executive vice president at Columbia College:
“Colleges and universities are an increasingly large component of downtown life.”
