University of Illinois-Chicago Campus to Receive Makeover

In a piece rich with renderings, Rachel Hinton covers an extensive plan by the University of Illinois at Chicago to rework its campus. "The plan, which covers nearly every corner of its 311-acre campus, will bring changes to both its undergraduate and health sciences buildings. It comes as the university seeks to push enrollment from 32,000 to 35,000," Hinton writes. 

According to the school's chancellor Michael Amiridis, the plan involves two five-year construction periods, with nine buildings planned for the first phase and "five or six" for the second. Total costs will exceed $1 billion, and groundbreaking on the first four buildings is set to take place within the next 18 months. 

"Funding for that first set of buildings and renovations will come from four sources," Hinton writes. "Around 30 percent from public-private partnerships, 25 percent from bonds, another 25 percent from state financing and 20 percent from philanthropy."

The plan calls for a variety of new structures, including a freshman "living-learning center," renovations to a nearby CTA Pink Line stop, an "entertainment district," and a new soccer stadium, as well as updates to a dated central quad.

Amiridis said that "an environment like this [...] will help build pride and [enhance] the identity of the school, which is something the school has struggled with over the course of its 50 years."