Latin School Puts Dearborn Rowhouses on the Block

The Latin School of Chicago is heading for the exits on four historic Near North Side homes it scooped up just four years ago, preparing to sell the properties at an estimated $2 million loss.

The private school is marketing four buildings on the 1500 block of North Dearborn Street that it bought in spring 2022 for just over $10 million, according to Crain’s. The combined asking price for all four is about $8.1 million, with two already listed and two more expected to hit the market shortly.

Latin acquired the homes in three deals as part of a long-term vision to expand and improve facilities for its lower school, serving students from junior kindergarten through fourth grade. But plans changed. In a letter sent to the school community in November and shared with the publication, board leaders said a subsequent multimillion-dollar upgrade to the existing lower school building eliminated the need for the Dearborn properties.

The letter also cited the disruption that a major construction project would cause, noting that redevelopment of the four buildings would likely require years of relocation for students and staff. The school declined to comment on the decision to sell at a loss.

Two of the properties, redstone buildings at 1511 and 1515 North Dearborn dating to 1890, were listed this week at $1.6 million apiece. The interiors were already gutted when Latin bought them and remain shells, according to Compass agent Jeff Lowe, who is marketing the pair. Latin is hoping to sell them together, potentially to a developer eyeing condos or to a buyer interested in restoring them as single-family homes.

The other two buildings, greystones at 1505 and 1507 Dearborn built in the 1880s, contain a combined 15 apartments and are expected to list soon for just under $4.9 million, combined. Lowe and Interra Realty’s Joe Smazal will handle that listing, according to the publication. Those buildings are being sold as going concerns, with leased units and a mix of historic and modern finishes.

At the time of the purchase, then–head of school Randall Dunn said Latin had no specific plan, but wanted to secure rare real estate opportunities in a dense neighborhood. Three years later, the school’s own student newspaper reported that concrete plans for the properties had yet to materialize, while the school was spending roughly $290,000 a year on taxes and maintenance.

The sale comes amid leadership turnover, with two heads of school departing since the acquisitions.

Latin will still be a dominant presence on the block. Including the four buildings now for sale, the school owns eight of the 10 properties on the east side of Dearborn between North Avenue and Burton Place, anchored by an 18,000-square-foot mansion it bought in 2017 for $12 million.

— Eric Weilbacher