Major construction of University Center of Chicago, which soon will be the largest joint-college student residence hall in the nation, will be completed with the ceremonial hoisting of the final steel beam atop the 18-story structure at 10 a.m. Aug. 18 at the construction site entrance at State and Harrison streets in Chicago’s South Loop.

Officials from Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University and Roosevelt University will mark the completion of University Center’s concrete superstructure with a topping-out ceremony, in which a 40-foot-long white, steel beam bearing an evergreen tree, flags of all three universities and the signatures of university dignitaries will be hoisted by tower crane more than 200 feet into the air, coming to rest on the building’s penthouse.

A three dimensional replica of the University Center building crafted in cake—with vanilla, chocolate mousse, fruit and other ingredients—by Wicker Park bakery Sweet Thang will be served as part of the celebration.

A major milestone in the construction process, the topping-out ceremony marks the end of 14 ½ months of construction on the structure of the building and clears the way for work on the exterior envelope and interior of University Center. Installation of the building’s façade and windows is scheduled for completion by December and the building’s interior work will be finished in June of 2004. Slated to open in the summer of 2004, the $150 million facility at State Street and Congress Parkway in the South Loop has a capacity of nearly 1,700 residents. The new student-housing center will help fill an enormous need for student housing in downtown Chicago. Located on a site bounded by State Street, Congress Parkway, Harrison Street and Holden Court, the project is expected to be a major anchor providing economic benefits for continued growth and revitalization of the South Loop.

Features of the new center include 31,000 square feet of street-level retail space, a 30,000-square-foot food service facility, student lounges, music practice rooms, a fitness center, art rooms, offices, multi-media rooms, game rooms, laundries and conference rooms, a 20,000-square-foot landscaped roof garden accessible from the third floor, and student residences on floors three and above.

There will be five styles of student suites and apartments, ranging in price from an estimated $703 to $1,108 per month. According to a collaborative agreement among the three universities, students from Columbia and DePaul each will have 40 percent of available beds, while Roosevelt students will occupy 20 percent of bed space. Traditional in the construction industry, ironworkers historically have performed the topping-out ceremony, installing a final beam to which a flag and an evergreen tree are attached. The ritual is thought to have originated in ancient times to drive out evil spirits that may occupy a new structure. The evergreen tradition is traced to Scandinavians who affixed a tree to the top of a building to honor the forest god, thanking him for his wood and blessing.

Taking a more modern approach to the tradition, University Center of Chicago’s topping-out ceremony will be conducted by Turner Construction Company, the general contractor, which has kept the project on schedule and on budget, and the academic partners.