Historic Lincoln Park buildings face demolition as DePaul University plans athletic complex expansion

CHICAGO - Depaul University plans to build a new athletic complex, but if the school gets its way, it would come at the cost of some historical buildings in Lincoln Park.

It would also take away 80 apartment units that are used for student housing.

The buildings that are at risk include four row houses that likely date back to the 1880s and 1890s as well as a 1920s courtyard apartment building. They are located in the 2300 block of North Sheffield.

"We really think it's important to save these structures. They're part of the streetscape. They're part of the human scale. They're part of what makes this area of Lincoln Park so beautiful," said Ward Miller, Executive Director of Preservation Chicago.

Miller said the kind of intricate masonry and detailing featured on the old buildings is quickly disappearing in Lincoln Park, and he is fighting to save the buildings, which are all owned by DePaul.

"To lose these buildings would be very tragic," he said.

The endangered buildings sit directly across from DePaul's Sullivan Athletic Center.

"This building was built, the Sullivan Athletic Center, in 2000, and we pretty much outgrew it the day we moved in," said Depaul Athletic Director DeWayne Peevy.  

Peevy said other than the men's and women's basketball teams, none of DePaul's other 13 sports have dedicated locker rooms, which is just one factor that is making it tough to recruit top talent in the increasingly competitive Big East Conference. 

The new complex would feature more locker rooms, basketball courts, weight rooms and a wellness center.

"We had the National Champion in our league in the Big East last year, and we're last in funding in basketball in the Big East Conference," Peevy said.

But Miller believes a win-win solution exists just a block north, where a very large parking lot sits, ripe for development.

"In a city with a housing crisis, why are we displacing people in buildings and impacting our historic built environment when we have a surface parking lot a block away that could be a viable re-use site for the same idea?" he said.

Unfortunately for preservationists, DePaul says that the parking lot site is already spoken for in its long-term campus plan for either an academic building or a conference center and hotel.