FEATURE ARTICLE, MAY 2008

REDEVELOPING ROGERS PARK
The Morgan at Loyola Station strives to better integrate Loyola University into the surrounding neighborhood.
Coleman Wood

McCaffery Interests is developing The Morgan at Loyola Station as part of the $400 million Loyola Station mixed-use development in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.

With the continued expansion of its suburbs, one can lose sight of the fact that Chicago is also experiencing a surge of infill redevelopment within the city. One of the more exciting projects currently under development is The Morgan at Loyola Station, a $54.5 million mixed-use project located in the city’s Rogers Park neighborhood.

Developed by Chicago-based McCaffery Interests in partnership with Loyola University Chicago, The Morgan is located on Sheridan Road at its intersection with Arthur and Loyola avenues. The property, which is owned by the university and leased to McCaffery in a 75-year agreement, is the former site of Loyola’s Fine Arts Annex and Arthur parking lot.

“Loyola owns a lot of that excess land along Sheridan Road, and they finally bit the bullet and said, ‘We have to develop this and make both Rogers Park and the community of Loyola interact better,” says Dan McCaffery, president and founder of McCaffery Interests.

The development calls for two adjacent buildings featuring 152 residential apartments, 33,000 square feet of retail, 205 parking spaces and 10 housing units owned by Loyola University. The first building will contain housing and ground-floor retail. The other will contain a parking garage, retail on the bottom and the 10 school-owned housing units lining the building’s Loyola Avenue frontage. The Loyola units will be designed as townhomes, and will be more aesthetically similar to the surrounding buildings on Loyola Avenue.

“[Loyola Avenue] is a beautiful street with lovely townhomes. We didn’t want the sight of the garage going around the corner and facing those buildings, so we have townhomes lining the garage and facing out to the street,” McCaffery says.

The townhomes will be owned by the university, which will bring them into its campus residency plan. The units will be used to accommodate visiting professors or as housing for the university’s faculty.

Apartments at The Morgan include convertible, one- and two-bedroom units. Unit amenities will include open floor plans, kitchen islands, in-unit washers and dryers, and spacious closets. The community features a reception area with a fireplace, a TV and casual seating; a rooftop terrace with a water feature, lounge chairs and barbecue grills; a fitness room; and a business center. The rents for the apartments range from $1,400 to $2,600 per month. While not designed specifically for Loyola students, the close proximity to its campus may attract some students looking for a more upscale off-campus housing option. The retail portion of the project is focusing on providing services for The Morgan and the surrounding communities.

“If you look at that street, at the intensity of the number of people that are there as students, and the number of people that live there, then look around at the service they have — they don’t have any,” McCaffery says.

The company is seeking basic community services tenants, plus a few restaurants, with the idea being to keep neighborhood residents from having to leave the area for more retail-rich neighborhoods. While the tenant list cannot be disclosed yet, McCaffery considers 40 percent of the retail space pre-leased.

One of the primary draws of the project is its convenient transportation access. The building sits on Sheridan Road, which is one of Chicago’s main arterials, and is also located within walking distance from a train station. The pedestrian and bicycle-friendly Loyola campus is also located right next to the development, providing residents with easy transportation access no matter what means of conveyance they select.

“It’s a sleeping beauty,” McCaffery says of the site. “Car access is terrific; you have the [train] station sitting right there; and even if you’re a ‘green machine’ guy and want to bike to work, you’ve got [Loyola’s campus]. The location is second to none.”

Another benefit of The Morgan at Loyola Station is its green project status. The project is applying for LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Indoor air quality is being maintained through the use of low-VOC paints and sealants, and sustainable and recycled materials are being used throughout the construction process. Native and drought-resistant plants are being used for landscaping, requiring less irrigation. The development’s proximity to the train station, as well as a bicycle storage room and a shared car program, promotes alternative transportation.

The development, which is scheduled for a spring 2009 completion, is just the first phase in the Loyola University Chicago’s master-planned, mixed-use development Loyola Station, which will span 5.4 acres and cost $400 million at full build-out. The Morgan is being designed by Chicago-based Antunovich Associates; construction services are being provided by W.E. O’Neil Construction Co.

With The Morgan well underway, McCaffery sees it as only the beginning of the area’s renewal. A TIF district was put into place in 2004, and served as the catalyst for the development of the Loyola Station project. The city sees Rogers Park as a gateway to the Loyola campus and the city of Chicago, and has invested in its redevelopment.

“There is a strip there that really hasn’t had a lot of tender love and care for a period of time,” McCaffery says. “If we come in and build a very nice project there, I think it will set a new standard by which others will judge themselves and their projects, and they’ll all step up a little bit.”

©2008 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.