Faced with a student housing shortage, the University of Chicago plans to use a newly built high-rise apartment near campus to accommodate the overflow demand.
The Chicago Maroon reports that the university has sent an e-mail to some students with an offer to live in the Vue53 apartment building, a 13-story, 267-unit structure where market rents range from $746 to $2,630 a month.
University housing officials made the offer to returning students who had already opted to live in housing in the 2017-2018 school year. The apartments being offered to students have two bedrooms and two private bathrooms, and furnishings similar to that offered in other college housing units. The apartments will be offered at the same rate as other apartments in the university housing system.
Vue53 is operated by Peak Campus, a national developer and property manager targeting the student market, sometimes in cooperation with the universities whose students they house.
Students living in the building units will have access to a fitness center, outdoor decks, a game room, and study lounges. They will also live above a compact Target that occupies Vue53's ground floor retail space.
Crain's Chicago Business reports that the university has leased 45 apartments in the building for students and staff.
Resident heads and resident assistants will move into Vue53 alongside the university students, who will have their meals at a house table in a campus dining hall.
The University of Chicago has seen numerous changes in its housing options over the last decade. Several large new residence halls have replaced a number of scattered, smaller housing sites.The trend has been toward larger residence halls that are closer to campus.
The Vue53 building was erected on a University-owned lot where a gas station had stood.
