Officials from Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University and Roosevelt University, along with their construction partners, neighbors and city representatives, celebrated the completion of major construction on the nation’s largest multi-college residence hall during a topping-out ceremony Aug. 18 in Chicago’s South Loop.

Participants signed the building’s 40-foot final beam before the beam was lifted by a tower crane 200 feet to the top of the structure at State and Harrison streets. The beam carried the universities’ flags and traditional ironworker topping-out symbols, including a small evergreen tree. Following the ceremony, celebrants gathered at the Turner Construction Co. site office and enjoyed pieces of a three-dimensional cake crafted into the shape of the building by Wicker Park bakery Sweet Thang.

“Today we celebrate the half way point of this $150-million, 18-story facility that will house 1,700 students from Columbia, DePaul and Roosevelt who are preparing to become the leaders in their communities,” said Kenneth A. McHugh, president of the Educational Advancement Fund, the non-profit corporation that oversees the facility.

“When University Center opens one year from now, it will continue the reawakening of this neighborhood by transforming an underutilized site into a vital residential and retail facility,” McHugh said. “This building will open a new gateway to the South Loop academic corridor, energizing the neighborhood. It will help Columbia, DePaul and Roosevelt meet their student housing demand and continue their collective, 170-year tradition of preparing students to contribute to Chicagoland’s business, civic and arts organizations.”

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 new 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 community anchor, providing economic benefits for continued growth and revitalization in the South Loop.

Features of the new facility 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; conference rooms; and a 20,000-square-foot landscaped roof garden accessible from the third floor. Student residences will be 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.

A tradition 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 was conducted by Turner Construction Co., the general contractor, which has kept the project on schedule and on budget, together with the academic partners that launched the project.

Other academic dignitaries to address the gathering were: Warrick L. Carter, Columbia College president; John J. Kozak, DePaul executive vice president for Academic Affairs, and Charles R. Middleton, president of Roosevelt University. Steve Fort, vice president of Turner Construction Co., introduced the topping-out ceremony.

Links to University Center photos:

Rendering of the completed University Center.

Final beam hoisted to complete University Center superstructure.

Academic partners view University Center cake. Caption: Warrick L. Carter, Columbia College Chicago president, the Rev. John P. Minogue, C.M., DePaul University president, and Charles R. Middleton, Roosevelt University president, view a three dimensional cake crafted in the shape of University Center of Chicago during a topping-out celebration for the residence hall under construction in the South Loop.

Note: DePaul students interested in more information about University Center should call DePaul Residence Life at 773/325-7196 or visit the DePaul UCC Web site: www.depaul.edu/ucc.