The South Loop’s Roosevelt University is officially opening the doors to its 32-story vertical campus this weekend, with a ribbon cutting and open house Saturday morning.

Located at 425 S. Wabash Ave. next door to Roosevelt’s Auditorium Building, the new building cost $123 million and is the second-tallest academic building in the U.S.

The jagged blue glass tower was conceived when Roosevelt’s former residence hall, the Herman Crown Center, was declared to be in violation of fire code when a new city law was passed in 2004 requiring all student residences to have sprinklers. But as plans for the new building were sketched up, the school quickly decided they wanted their new building to be mixed-use.

The new building is roughly half dorms, with 633 student beds from floors 15 through 31. The first six floors are also devoted to student life activities, including admission, financial aid and advising offices.

But the new building will also have tons of space for classrooms, including three stories for the university’s business school. It’ll also have five stories of other classrooms, including state-of-the-art science labs for physics, biology and chemistry.

Some staff from admissions and career services have been working out of the building for a week or two, Roosevelt University spokeswoman Laura Janota said. Roosevelt’s academic year is already over — graduation was this week — so students won’t move in until August.

Anyone interested can come to the ribbon cutting Saturday, May 5 at 10:30 a.m., where there will be tours and an open house as well.

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By Another SL Parent from South Loop
Posted: 05/08/2012 10:31 AM

I have to say I enjoy that building. It is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and it does justice to the entire Michigan Ave look from Lake Shore Dr.