Chicago State University Seeks Multifamily Developers

Chicago State University is floating an offer of ground leases on a chunk of its campus fronting 95th Street in hopes of drawing proposals for a mixed-used development in the Rosedale neighborhood on the South Side.

The school’s plan to lure private developers for residential buildings that would house up to 528 tenants, along with 25,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, comes as near- and longer-term projects take shape around the 160-year-old public institution, Crain’s reported.

A $56 million renovation of a nearby regional Metra transit station is in the works, and the Chicago Transit Authority’s plan to extend its Red Line will serve the campus area. All of that is is taking shape just a few miles from the quantum computing campus the State of Illinois plans to sponsor at the former South Works steel mill along the Lake Michigan

Plans call for the additions of housing and retail to what is now open green space on the Chicago State campus.

A request for proposals calls for would-be developers to offer plans for financing, design and timelines.The school expects four phases of development, with the eventual possibility of additional apartments, ranging from studios to “family-sized units” to achieve a “college town experience.”

Chicago State has an annual enrollment of about 2,000 and is the lone four-year institution serving a predominantly Black student body in Illinois. It is largely a commuter school, serving locals who do not live on campus, and generates about $1.6 billion in economic activity, according to a recent state study, which found that about 20 percent of the money is spent outside its immediate area.

The redevelopment plan aims to capture more of the economic activity within the South Side neighborhood.

“University Village 95 is more than a real estate project. It’s a commitment to equitable development through real estate investment,” said Andrea Zopp, chair of the CSU board of trustees, who previously served as deputy mayor and chief neighborhood development officer under Rahm Emanuel’s mayorship.

The materials the school distributed by the plan did not spell out much in the way of specifics on what would be considered “equitable development” or how the plan would conform to the broadly stated goal.