DePaul Buys Building On Children's Memorial Campus
CHICAGO (CBS) -- DePaul University will be taking over one of the buildings on the Children's Memorial Hospital campus after the hospital moves from its Lincoln Park home.
DePaul executive vice president Bob Kozoman said in a letter that the hospital had reached an agreement with DePaul for the three-story Belden Place building, 759 W. Belden Ave.
The Belden Place building is located at the southeast corner of Halsted Street and Belden Avenue, and is currently used for hospital administrative and human resources offices. It dates from the early 1990s.
Kozoman writes that DePaul is not yet sure how it will use the Belden Place building, but it is expected to devote part of the space to academic use. Public meetings will be held as DePaul and Children's Memorial work with Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) on plans to rezone the building, Kozoman wrote.
The Belden Place building is directly across Halsted Street from the main DePaul campus. The 3.5-acre main Children's Memorial Hospital building is located just to the northeast, on a plot bounded by Lincoln Avenue on the south and west, Orchard Street on the east, and Fullerton Avenue on the north.
Children's Memorial Hospital last year sold the main building, as well as an eight-story office building across the street at 700 W. Fullerton Ave., and several other properties along Lincoln Avenue, to developer McCaffery Interests Inc., according to a news release issued in July of last year.
McCaffery plans to redevelop the hospital campus as a "town center" in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, with multi-income housing, retail and open space, the release said.
Meanwhile, a group of churches, social organizations, and neighbors have formed the Children's Memorial Redevelopment Coalition. The group is working to guarantee an open process of decision-making, and the inclusion of affordable housing, the reuse of historic buildings, and sustainable design principles.
The new Children's Memorial Hospital will be renamed the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, and will open in June at 225 E. Chicago Ave. in the Streeterville neighborhood.
The hospital said last year that it planned to retain some off-campus buildings in Lincoln Park, including its outpatient center at 2515 N. Clark St., and the Kids Doc at 1970 N. Clybourn Ave. The hospital also plans to go on leasing a building at 1731 N. Marcey St.
