http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1...loop01.article
Daley calls for more Loop dorms
November 1, 2006
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Mayor Daley said Tuesday he wants to
build more downtown "superdorms" -- this time with a "side entrance" for staff and faculty -- to turn the Loop into even more of a college town.
The new dorms would be
modeled after University Center, the $151 million dormitory partnership between Columbia College, Roosevelt University and DePaul at State and Congress.
"We hope to explore more options, build more facilities [for] students who want to live in the downtown area. It's a great economic boon for the city," Daley said.
"We should have built a side-entrance for staff, professors and assistant professors.
The next one we build, we're going to build an opportunity to keep much of their faculty in the downtown area as well."
Roosevelt President Chuck Middleton said the university
is interested in "expanding its residential capacity downtown"
by 450 beds. Whether or not it will be in a superdorm or a Roosevelt-only dorm is still under study, he said.
"We're growing, as are other institutions downtown. Everybody needs more beds downtown," he said.
The 18-story University Center opened in 2004 to 1,680 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. It has a laundry room with 75 washers and dryers, a game room and an exercise room.
The amenities don't come cheap. On opening day, a studio apartment with a kitchen and private bath went for $1,139 a month. Students sharing a traditional dorm room paid $723 a month and $2,200 for a meal plan.