UIC'S SOUTH CAMPUS PROJECT APPROVED BY CITY COUNCIL

The Chicago City Council today approved agreements with the University of Illinois authorizing UIC's $525 million South Campus project, which will forge a vibrant new community on the city's near west side. Groundbreaking is scheduled for March 2000.

"This is a great day for the University of Illinois at Chicago and our community," said Sylvia Manning, interim chancellor of UIC. "We thank Mayor Richard Daley, our aldermen, and the entire City Council for their strong support."

South Campus will include academic buildings, student housing, private residential units, retail shops, parks and parking facilities, along with existing athletics facilities, in an area bounded by Roosevelt Road to the north, the railroad tracks to the south (north of 16th Street), Union Street to the east, and Morgan Street to the west. The plan adaptively re-uses 21 buildings and facades on Maxwell and Halsted streets. The development also includes the old Maxwell Street police station - the only building in the area listed on the National Register of Historic Places - which UIC is renovating.

The west side of Halsted Street between Roosevelt Road and 14th Street will host retail shops and student residential facilities totaling more than 750 beds, which will help to ease a campus housing shortage. More than 600 students currently are on waiting lists for campus housing.

On the east side of Halsted Street retail establishments will be located in eight existing buildings. New retail buildings on Maxwell Street will feature facades relocated from Halsted, Maxwell and Roosevelt.

A new College of Business Administration, a performing arts center and a conference center are planned for the northeast portion of the development.

"The new academic facilities will enhance educational opportunities for our students," noted Elizabeth Hoffman, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, who is chairing a university-wide planning committee for the academic buildings.

In addition to the 750 students who will live on the South Campus, approximately 2,000 residents are expected to move into the market-rate housing to be located between 14th and 16th streets. University officials hope that a substantial number of new residents will be UIC faculty and staff.

Twenty-one percent of the residential units will be earmarked as affordable housing. The South Campus project offers an innovative mortgage assistance program that will enable people earning between 80 and 120 percent of area median income to qualify for home ownership in the development.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for the university to take a leading role in building a new community that will create a lively campus environment and serve as an economic engine for our neighborhood," said Vice Chancellor Stanton Delaney, who has spearheaded the project for the past two years.

"On behalf of the university, I want to thank Stan and the entire South Campus Development Team for their excellent work and the countless hours they have spent moving this project forward," said Manning. "I also want to thank the many community organizations and residents who have supported the project."

The South Campus project is expected to generate more than $1 billion in economic activity, including 1,000 jobs during the 10-year course of construction and more than 200 new permanent jobs. The development will be financed in part by a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district approved by the City Council last May, and will include substantial participation in both employment and contracts by minority- and women-owned businesses and community residents.

With 25,000 students, the University of Illinois at Chicago is the largest and most diverse university in the Chicago area. UIC is home to the largest medical school in the United States and is one of only 88 national Research I universities. Located just west of Chicago's Loop, UIC is a vital part of the educational, technological and cultural fabric of the entire metropolitan region.

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