News

$100 Million Academic, Housing Complex Financed By CHF Opens at University of Illinois Chicago Campus

July 22, 2019
Publication: StudentHousingBusiness.com
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A public-private partnership between American Campus Communities and the University of Illinois at Chicago has opened the Academic and Residential Complex. The new development features a 54,000-square-foot, two-story academic building alongside a 146,000-square-foot, 10-story residence hall offering 548 beds. The academic building offers seven interactive classrooms, small group study rooms, a tutoring center, computer stations and collaboration spaces.

The development’s residential component will target incoming freshmen students, offering a mix of traditional two-person dorm rooms and semi-suite-style units. Students will be grouped in living-learning communities on floors with other students who are studying similar subjects. Each floor will also be home to resident assistants and peer mentors. Shared amenities will include study and social lounges on each floor, a fitness center, laundry facilities, a 10th-floor sky lounge and 1,600 square feet of retail, which will include a Starbucks Coffee operated and managed by students.

The partnership broke ground on the $100 million facility — designed by SCB Architects — in January 2018. The project was financed primarily through a tax-exempt bond issuance with Collegiate Housing Foundation, which serves as the borrower and owner of the project.