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Developer dies, new owner to continue the plan
The Shoreland was recommended to be closed as a dormitory was sold for redevelopment, but is not in danger. Work on exterior restoration is in progress by Berglund. Neighbors say it hasn't looked as good in a long time. Now sold to Kenard company, which will restore exterior and lobby (maybe ballroom, dep. on proposed restaurant's needs) and unblock the windows. More in Community News.
In summer 2005 the developer reached satisfactory settlement with neighbors and Ald. Hairston for sensitive treatment, preservation of some of the sensitive parts inside, parking and other issues. In summer 2006 the developer died and was replaced by another who will follow the agreed upon plan. In spring 2007 notices went up adverizing 280 units and 306 parking spaces. See below.
Closure,
in the next 3 years, of the U of C's Shoreland dormitory
in favor of new dormitories south of the Midway, with relocation
of 650 students out of the neighborhood and East Hyde Park will entail serious
readjustments and raised questions of preservation and reuse,
where the parking required for a redevelopment would be located
and accessed, and need for a guarantee of (better than present?)
upkeep until the property is redeveloped. (The new residents
may substantially change the character of East Hyde Park.) The landmarked property
has (steeply assessed?) land value, but the building could have turned out not
be worth reuse on the market. Costs to rehabilitate and bring up to city demands
is $44 to $50 million; conversion would cost much more. (The structure is landmarked,
so should not be demolished or have its exterior altered.) Many students pointed
to advantages of the Shoreland. A strong cord was struck with many Shoreland
students, who had concerns with closure, on student-life and community fronts.
Other Shoreland and University students remained divided. The pro-Shoreland
website is www.savetheshoreland.com.
The University set up more broad-issue website which will also provide a forum
on this question, housing.uchicago.edu,
select "The Future of Housing."
April 21, 2004 Vice President Steve Klass recommended closure to President
Randel, citing rising long term costs, declining choice by students
for the Shoreland, and desirability of citing new structures with lower cost
but more options on or close to campus.
In July it was announced that the Kenard Company will buy and convert the Shoreland for 260 luxury condominiums, pending 60-day inspection and cost assessment by the company. The Shoreland's days as a dorm will end in 2007 or 8. Following a firsts public meeting, meetings with residents of neighboring buildings are underway. Since the Shoreland is to be redeveloped under a Planned Unit Development (PUD), later hearings will be held. Below the boxed report below is a report and latest Herald coverage. on the roll-out meeting August 12, 2004.
Hank Webber said about the sale, "We are thrilled to be working with a firm with Kenard's credentials, particularly because of the Lichterman's outstanding track record on historical preservation projects. Kenard has a well-earned reputation for collaborating closely with actively engaged communities such as Hyde Park. For those of us who love and respect the Shoreland, it will be very exciting to witness the restoration of this historically important element of our local architecture." (to Chronicle of 8/19). (Hyde Park Historical Society Preservation Committee concurs with the assessment of Kenard, but will press for as much restoration of the ballroom as possible.)
Lichterman said, "The Shoreland is a neighborhood treasure. As we have always done with our other projects throughout the city, we will bring the Shoreland Hotel building back to its former glory, and we will take pride in working very closely with the community as we do so."
Shoreland goes CondoHyde Park Herald, August 4, 2004. By Jeremy Adragna The historic Shoreland Hotel was recently sold by the University of Chicago for an undisclosed amount and officials say the 80-year-0ld-building will soon be revamped into luxury condos. The sale has not yet been finalized and will not be until its prospective owner assesses what a rehab will cost. The University of Chicago owned the building at 5450 to 5484 S. Shore Dr. since the 1970s as a student dormitory and officials now say the school will likely build new student housing on land it owns south of the Midway Plaisance. During a 60-day waiting period in which the building's new owner, Kenard Corp. will assess the cost of rehabbing the 13-story building, a sale could be finalized as soon as October, officials say. As for the nearly 600 students who currently reside in the Shoreland Hotel, all will be moved to different campus dorms by as early as 2007. Hank Webber, U. of C.'s vice president of community and governmental affairs, says he expects the Shoreland Hotel's 315 rooms will be completely filed with students until rehabs begin that year. Kenard's Hal Lichterman says he does not expect the building's historic designation to be a hindrance to rehab effort but he will nonetheless include an extra 5 percent of the total rehab cost to make up for any preservation hoops the Chicago-based firm may have to jump through. But he doesn't expect the sale to go south following the waiting period. "If I thought that possibility existed then i wouldn't have mae the contract," Lichterman said. "That's why you do your [waiting] period so yu don't have to make a mistake later." After the sale is complete officials say the building will be leased back to the university to be use as dorms until a new dorm building can be constructed. Kenard pans to rehab the Shoreland Hotel into 260 luxury condos. The firm has revamped several historic buildings including Hyde Park's former Chicago Osteopathic Hospital at 5200 s. Ellis Ave., which was converted into condos in 1999. High on the list of priorities for possible buyers for the university has been one which would revamp the building's historic architecture, Webber said. "We think we have found that developer." Webber says new student housing plans will also be finalized in coming months. Lichterman will meet with residents from eight nearby buildings to announce and get approval for the rehab plans at an Aug. 11 meeting held at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr. "I like to take pretty properties and restore them," Lichterman said. "It will look beautiful when it's done." |
Report on the roll-out meeting August 12, 2004 with Hal Lichterman and wife, owners of Kenard Company.
A relatively small number came to the South Shore Cultural Center to learn plans for conversion. But several meetings are planned in buildings around the Shoreland. Alderman Hairston added vital information. Drawings were distributed. The Lichtermans described their background restoring and rehabilitating historic and "nice" buildings including the Fischer Bldg historic conversion downtown, Cabrini conversion to mixed use, and the Osteopathic project. Here are highlights.
- (First, the building will be re let to UC to continue as a dormitory until 2007 or 8, with the University committed to "continue to invest in the maintenance and upkeep of the Shoreland at the same level..." (Steve Klass, VP and Dean of Students). )
- The exterior, lobby and more will be meticulously restored--extent for the ballroom depends on the needs of the fine restaurant to be housed there along with other commercial space (including a hair salon). The windows will be unboarded. The passageway from the 5490 building will be kept. The west facade upper floors may have the balconies many today demand--but about which the audience was not enthusiastic.
- 1:1 parking (plus 25 spaces offered to neighbors) will be built in part of the lower 6 floors and a new structure to the south (whose exterior will replicate that of the present building's front). Hal indicated this was the maximum parking compatible with the economics of space needed to build the requisite housing units. Alderman Hairston ensured this maximum parking provision.
- Nearly 2/3 of the units are now expected to be one-bedroom, based on the site-specific marketing survey, necessary to get financing. (These would sell for c. $200,000, 2-bedrooms (c/ 1/3) for over $300,000, and 4-bedrooms (c. 5%) at over $500,000.) Strong aversion was expressed to so many (or even any) one-bedroom units. Hal said he would be delighted to sell more larger units and offered to market to larger units during the 6 month or so period during he which he had to sell 40% of the units in order to be approved for financing; if the market for larger units is strong, he will go to the bankers and include more larger units. (Residents thought one-bedroom units would encourage "investors" or parents buying for students--categories Lichterman vowed to try to weed out, bring in singles and newly weds with a "different," noisier lifestyle, drive up parking demand, and more.)
- The timeline calls for the students to be out in 2007 (or 8) and model built, there would be a sales period of 6-8 months. With financing in hand, construction will begin and take maybe 18 months. Occupancy is planned for 2009-10.
Herald August 18: Shoreland rehab calls for parking and restaurant.
By Mike Stevens
The developer buying and converting the Shoreland Hotel into condominiums presented plans last week that include prices topping out at half a million dollars. a six story parking garage, a restaurant in the building's ballroom and more one bedroom units than some neighbors would like.
Armed with a marketing study touting a hot market for the smaller condos, Kenard Company President Hal Lichterman told the two dozen Hyde Parkers gathered at the South Shore Cultural Center last Wednesday that half of the proposed luxury condominiums set to replace the University of Chicago's student housing will be one bedroom units. An additional 15 percent of the units will be a bedroom and a half.
Heather Refetoff, who lives in a neighboring building, came looking to buy but left with doubts. She said the 700-800 square foot one bedroom units will draw investors looking to rent. High turnover is not what people buying a $500,000 condominium are looking for, Refetoff reasoned.
With construction still at least two years off, the proposal allows for any adaptation that sells, Lichterman said. "We would love to do all two or three bedrooms if t hat is what the market wants," Lichterman said.
But with a $6 million price tag, the project must sell all available square footage, Lichterman said. "We can only build what we can sell," Lichterman added.
Parking was the primary concern, project manager Mike DeRouin said, and plans call for a parking space for each unit with 25 spaces to spare. The seven floors of parking will rise from the basement to the sixth floor and will be house inside the back of the building. A parking ramp on the building's south side will be tucked away inside a masonry structure built to resemble the existing historic facade.
Hyde Park Historical Society member Devereux Bowly applauded commitments from the developers to restore the building's lobby and facade but pushed for the ballroom's restoration. "[The Shoreland's ballroom] is one of the great spaces in Hyde Park," Bowly said. "It should be restored the same as the lobby and the facade. Lichterman put off a decision until he could talk with prospective tenants, which he said will likely be a restaurant.
No balconies will be hung on the front side side of the building but are being considered on the building's west side, Lichterman said.
The University of Chicago has owned and operated the former hotel as a student dormitory since the 1970s. With an architect already chosen for a replacement dorm south of the Midway Plaisance, Lichterman said the rehab could begin a early as 2006. Until then, Kenard will lease the building back to the university, Lichterman said.
To get financing for the 18-month rehab, Kenard must pre-sell 40 percent of the units. Three bedroom units will cost roughly a half-million dollars and will boast slightly less than 2,00 square feet. Two bedroom units will likely carry a $300,000 price tag and will have 1,200 square feet. One bedroom units will go for around $175,000.
Once grand, fading hotel going condo
It was once frequented by some of Chicago's most famous -- and infamous -- residents, including Al Capone and Amelia Earhart. It was later a stop for countless other movers and shakers, including Jimmy Hoffa and Elvis Presley. Over the last three decades, however, the once luxurious Shoreland Hotel, at 55th and Shore Drive, has been home to thousands of University of Chicago students. But now the building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986, is going condo. Despite student protests, the 13-story building was sold for $5.25 million earlier this month to Kenard Corp., a Chicago developer that specializes in historic preservation. Kenard plans to turn it into 260 condominiums. Students will continue to live in the building for at least three years while the university builds a new dorm closer to campus. The sale marks the end of another era in the life of the 88-year-old building, a life that a University of Chicago student is now chronicling for a film.
'Sustained
enchantment' The story, which Carey spent countless hours researching at the Chicago Historical Society, dates to 1926. Owner Harry Fawcett sought to build a grand hotel, Carey said, spending $2 million on furnishings alone. In newspaper ads, the Shoreland billed itself as "Chicago's most fashionable residential hotel'' and claimed to offer "sustained enchantment.'' It maintained 1,000 guest rooms, a crystal ballroom, a large banquet hall with a top-notch restaurant and an immaculate lobby with 30-foot-high ceilings. Its terra-cotta exterior featured gargoyles and other elaborate stonework. It hosted countless wedding receptions and parties for Chicago's elite. A massive banquet was held when Amelia Earhart returned triumphantly in 1928 to the Hyde Park neighborhood where she had attended high school. Later, Al Capone was known to conduct "business'' in certain rooms, Carey said. In the 1950s, Jimmy Hoffa kept a room in the hotel and often held raucous union meetings there. In a scene Carey re-created for the movie, one of Hoffa's underlings strangled a hotel worker in the lobby after he dared to ask the union boss to pay his debt to the hotel. That worker's wife was the hotel manager, making the Shoreland the largest hotel in the country with a woman in charge. But the hotel began to lose its splendor, and it was sold to the university for $750,000 in the 1970s. Its Crystal Ballroom at times doubled as a computer lab and TV room. Carey said students initially have mixed reactions to being assigned to live there but fall in love with the building once they see its charm and lake views and learn of its past. She and friends often dressed up and hosted champagne parties on her floor. The building today is relatively worn. The ceiling in the banquet hall caved in years ago. Fading
attraction The dorm's popularity had waned in recent years, with more students seeking newer housing closer to campus, said vice president and dean of students Stephen Klass. "It was a pretty sad realization for those of us trying to hold this sucker together,'' Klass said. Still, Carey and other students protested the decision, selling "Save the Shoreland'' T-shirts and circulating petitions. Kenard Corp. President Hal Lichterman said he hopes to put a restaurant in the old banquet hall but will otherwise gut the building. He hopes to restore some of the elaborate plasterwork that remains and fix the facade. "We are very enthused about it,'' he said. |
As of February 2006, Kenard Management was drawing up plans to convert the Shoreland, secure funding and lessees. Construction should start in 2008 and be done by 2010. It will have about 260 units, a six-floor parking garage, a restaurant in the ballroom, and a hair salon. 2/3 will be one-bedroom suites, at $200,000 and 700-800 sf, 1/3 two-bedroom at $300,000 and 1,200 sf, and 5 percent 3-bedrooms selling or $500,000 for 2,000 sf. (Neighbors had strongly urged a higher proportion of larger units.) Property cost was $5.7 m to the university (which paid $750,000 in 1974). (Sale reasons included changes in building codes, high cost to remodel vs a new dorm, and high demand by students to be on/near campus along with administration desire to have that happen.)
Some students still told the Maroon they will miss the building's special character, mainly the huge suites with classic decor, as well as ability to engage with a larger community. "The real value of the Shoreland is the connection that the dorm gives students to the Hyde Park community. The Shoreland forces students to leave their comfort zone and become ont only students of the University, but also active residents of Hyde Park."
In summer, 2006 Mr. Lichterman died and the building and project were sold t another developer, who promises to follow the same plan. See below.
Fitzgerald Associates for the Kenard Co.
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New owner to continue the Kenard plan for redevelopment.
Hyde Park Herald, October 25, 2006. By Daniel J. Yovich
The old Shoreland Hotel has again changed ownership. Evanston-based R.D. Horner and Associates paid $10 million in August for the 13-floor property, located at 5450 to 5484 S. Shore Dr. The building's previous owner was the late Hal Lichterman's Kenard Corp., which bought the property for about $5.25 million from the University of Chicago in 2004.
R.D. Horner President Robert Horner said his group intends to continue with Kenard's plans to convert the historic building into condominiums Those plans call for about 260 condominiums, a six floor parking garage, a hair salon and the conversion of the building's ballroom into a restaurant.
"What appeals most to me about the property is its historic significance and of course the location is clearly superb," Horner said. After it opened in 1926, the Shoreland was one of the city's most luxurious hotels, and hosted such notable guests as Al Capone, Jimmy Hoffa, and Elvis Presley. Upkeep of the building deteriorated in the 1970s and the university bought the property at foreclosure for $750,000.
The university houses nearly 600 students in the building. They will continue top live in the building until 2008, when the university's lease expires, said Hank Webber, the university's vice president of community affairs. The students currently living in the building will move into the new residence hall being built near 61st Street and Ellis Avenue, Webber said.
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Former co-owner Hal Lichterman had already obtained all the city permits. His widow made a tidy profit--maybe the University sold too soon? Horner paid $10 million v the $6 million Kenard Co. paid the University in 2004. Horner and Assocs. had been one of the original bidders. Robert Horner told the Maroon, "What appeals most to me about the property is its historic significance and of course the location is clearly superb." Horner hopes for opening at the end of 2009.