The Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University, thanked members of the Chicago City Council for their recent approval of DePaul’s 10-year master plan for the redevelopment of its Lincoln Park Campus. 

“We are gratified by the City Council’s vote and thankful for the efforts of Aldermen Vi Daley (43rd), Scott Waguespack (32nd), the members of the Chicago Plan Commission and the Daley administration who have worked diligently on this matter over the past several months,” Holtschneider said. “Having achieved City Council approval, the DePaul community now can focus its effort on making this plan a reality.”

The master plan, which details zoning parameters and building dimensions for a number of facilities and other amenities, was the result of several years of collaboration among university officials, academics, students, local elected officials, architects, attorneys and residents of the surrounding neighborhood.

The plan is centered on new facilities for DePaul’s School of Music, along the west side of the 2300 block of North Halsted Street, and The Theatre School of DePaul, to be situated at the southwest corner of Fullerton and Racine avenues.  Both schools long have been regarded among the most prestigious and competitive programs of their kind in the nation, despite their aged and outmoded facilities. The plan does not envision expansion beyond DePaul’s current boundaries or further student body growth at the Lincoln Park Campus.

A new general classroom building in the 2300 block of North Kenmore Avenue also is planned as are a new structure to house the DePaul Art Museum and the new Cacciatore Stadium seating facility at Wish Field – both just east of the Chicago Transit Authority’s Fullerton station.

Construction of the larger facilities is contingent on meeting future philanthropy goals, though work is expected to proceed in summer 2010 on selected elements of the plan including the art museum and the athletic stadium, according to Robert Kozoman, executive vice president for operations at DePaul.  He noted that aesthetic improvements to the Corcoran Hall dormitory, 910 W. Belden Ave., will also take place next summer.

“We will continue to work closely with the community and the local aldermen as we actually begin putting shovels into the ground,” Kozoman said.

Antunovich Associates, DePaul’s long-term design partner, which also was responsible for DePaul’s highly lauded 1989 Lincoln Park master plan, managed the design work for the new project.  The proposed structures would mirror many of the design elements of other DePaul facilities completed in recent years, especially the use of classic red brick and limestone façades.

“DePaul University has been a core member of the Lincoln Park community for more than 100 years, and this redevelopment plan will allow us to better meet the goals of our strategic plan and become an even richer resource for the community,” said Holtschneider. “This new master plan will allow us to further strengthen the academic excellence mission underpinning our strategic plan. At the same time, it will allow DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus to expand significantly its arts programming, to the benefit of the entire community.”