De Paul University purchases 18-story building in Chicago

DePaul University Expands South Loop Campus with Acquisition of the 18 story Historic 14 E. Jackson Building

Excerpts from the Press release

DePaul University, the nation’s largest Catholic university, has dramatically expanded its physical presence on State Street in Chicago’s booming South Loop through its just-completed acquisition of the historic 14 E. Jackson Blvd. building.

The 18-story, 384,000-square-foot structure becomes the fifth historic building that DePaul owns along East Jackson Boulevard, helping DePaul lead the way in making Chicago’s South Loop the largest “college town” in Illinois and surrounding states. The facility expands DePaul’s real estate footprint in the South Loop by roughly 25 percent and makes DePaul the largest educational institution in the area.

Since the mid-1990s, DePaul’s student enrollment at its downtown campus has grown approximately 35 percent, and in the fall of 2007, 12,688 students registered for classes there, making it the busiest of DePaul’s six Chicago-area campuses and making DePaul the school serving the largest number of students in the greater Loop area. The Loop Campus is home to the College of Commerce and Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, College of Computing and Digital Media, College of Law and School for New Learning (SNL), an innovative program for adult learners, as well as DePaul’s main administrative offices.

“Over the past decade, DePaul has launched more than 200 graduate and undergraduate programs, minors and concentrations, including groundbreaking programs in e-commerce, real estate and information security,” said the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul’s president. “This landmark expansion of our Loop Campus will allow us to continue to build on that record.”

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DePaul’s purchase of the 18-story building at 14 E. Jackson Blvd. was detailed in a front-page story in the Chicago Tribune’s business section on June 9. Fox News Chicago reported on the acquisition on its midday newscast that day. Mentions of the purchase also were made in Tribune real estate columns appearing June 11 and 16. The move also was lauded by Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin’s blog. The Sun-Times business section on June 10 and 18 also reported on the purchase.