ChicagoBooth - University of Chicago's Business School

Situation
ChicagoBooth, one of the country’s highest ranked business schools, determined that it needed to meet the growing downtown housing needs of its student population. The numbers of students living downtown, as opposed to the Hyde Park campus, was steadily increasing annually and had grown to a significant percentage of the student body.  ChicagoBooth had tight geographic parameters in which their building could be located.  The building had to be within close proximity to the Metra station at Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street.  A Michigan Avenue address was essential.  

Resolution
Because the desired location was in a specific area and no buildings were being marketed for sale there, the search focused on uncovering “hidden” opportunities or buildings that were not on the market that the owner would consider selling. BREA identified eight potential building alternatives that could meet ChicagoBooth’s location criteria.  None of these buildings were on the market yet.  Properties identified had to “fit” the University’s image, have a floor plate with the right floor area to window ratio that could be converted to housing, and have a Michigan Avenue address, which all of the properties did. The search required meeting with several owners, lenders and even a receiver to determine if any entity would be interested in selling their properties.