DePaul presents plan to demolish century-old buildings for new basketball facility amid community protest

A DePaul University proposal to demolish five century-old buildings in the heart of its Lincoln Park campus to build a modern four-story practice basketball facility was met with skepticism and criticism at a community meeting Thursday night.

To make way for the basketball facility, the DePaul board of trustees approved plans to demolish five buildings on the northwest corner of Sheffield and Belden avenues. Four of them are three-story walk-up townhouses.

But dozens of neighbors and students voiced concerns to the university and 43rd Ward Ald. Timmy Knudsen — who must sponsor the proposal to the city for the zoning change — on the impact the development would have on student housing availability and the character of the neighborhood. The biggest concern: tearing down century-old structures that will most likely never be built again in the area.

The digital renderings for the new facility illustrate plans for one large building with two full basketball courts and lounge spaces for varsity teams. The building features a lower half made of brick to match architecture in the area, and a glass upper half of the facade. Plans include a shading system to reduce light projecting out at night and markings on the glass to lower the risk of birds crashing into the glass.

School officials said the development would cost $60 million and be raised privately for the facility, not out of the school’s other budgets or fundraising efforts.

University officials maintained throughout the evening that tearing down the existing buildings is necessary to increase the school’s national exposure and recruit top athletes, particularly in men’s basketball. In turn, they expect enrollment and the student experience to be positively affected.

“We have to be a better front porch for this university to help attract students from all across the country,” said DeWayne Peevy, vice president and director of athletics. "In the world we live in, sports gets attention, so we think how can we turn that into something good to help everybody?”

Peevy said DePaul has fallen behind other Big East schools in recruiting efforts partly because of outdated and crowded facilities, where student athletes share a locker room and fight for court time. He added that several students have come to him saying they want DePaul to become a larger athletic powerhouse that they can cheer on while at school.

One woman, who described herself as a young professional living in Lincoln Park, said she was worried about the effects on an already tight and expensive rental market in the area. In the redevelopment, DePaul would lose bed space for 80 on-campus students.

Rich Wiltse, vice president of facilities, said the school has 79 beds empty on campus and that enrollment has declined in recent years. Land about one block north is earmarked for future on-campus student housing, administrators added.

Many attendees pointed to potential other sites for the practice facility, such as a parking lot at the corner of Sheffield and Fullerton Parkway. University officials say zoning for that lot is set aside for a future conference center and hotel.

“This land is really the only viable option we have for this project,” said Peter Coffey, associate vice president for community and government relations.

The meeting, co-hosted by the university and the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, was the first public presentation of details of the plan since the announcement of the initiative in late August.

Although opponents argued the 100-year-old buildings should not be torn down to make way for modern builds, the buildings have been found to hold no specific historic significance to prevent demolition, said Joe Antunovich, the lead architect for DePaul’s development projects. The walk-ups are orange-rating buildings, meaning they must be preserved and marked as landmarks if they meet certain historical requirements.

“They qualify if the architect was a wonderful architect or if great historic activities took place within those buildings, and qualify, if those requirements are met, as a Chicago landmark today. We’ve not found that either of that criteria has been met,” Antunovich said.

When asked if the facades of the structures could be preserved, Antunovich said the historic preservation society had no interest in that strategy. As a stipulation for the proposal, DePaul will look at other areas on campus to record as landmarks.

To build the facility, the university must seek city approval for changes to its zoning ordinances. The university did not own two of the buildings proposed to be demolished when it last filed a master plan to the city in 2010.

As part of its 2010 master plan, DePaul officials committed to keep most of its academic and student-facing buildings in the heart of campus while reserving the outer buildings on the edge of campus for buildings the community can enjoy. The proposed facility falls in the area considered the heart of campus.

While the university said the project would also benefit local high schools and event organizers who could utilize the space, some nearby Lincoln Park residents expressed dismay they would lose beloved structures in the area.

If approved, construction would not break ground on the project until summer 2025, school officials said. The Sullivan Athletic Center and McGrath-Phillips Arena would also be remodeled in the project.

Knudsen will review the plan and community feedback before going to City Council.

“My office will be taking note of community feedback, which will serve as a guide to continued discussions with the applicant based on what we hear tonight and will be taken to make a recommendation on should this application go forward,” Knudsen said.

Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce Vice President Robin Hammond voiced the chamber’s support of the plan at the meeting.

“We agree that it’s crucial for DePaul to remain competitive to attract students, and we appreciate this investment and in the neighborhood,” Hammond said.