Demolitions have begun for a row of vintage buildings on North Sheffield Avenue on the DePaul University campus in Lincoln Park ahead of construction the school’s new basketball center. Heneghan Wrecking received permits to tear down 2308 North Sheffield on July 20 and 2314 North Sheffield one day later. Each of those permits shows a reported cost of $47,000, but there are three other structures to tear down, and it isn’t clear if that figure covers all five, or just each of the first two.
Photo by Daniel Schell
The Belden facade of 2300 North Sheffield, not yet permitted for demolition. Photo by Daniel Schell
From the alley, 2316 (untouched) is on the left. Photo by Daniel Schell
At right is the garage at 2310 North Sheffield, which has not yet been permitted for demolition. You can also see the residential building’s untouched rear porches. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
The front facades of the two buildings underway show no signs of demolition yet, though you can see daylight through the front windows of 2314. Around back, the alley has been closed off, limiting views of progress. But the two structures that have gotten started can be seen, bookending the untouched garage and main structure of 2310 North Sheffield.
There is a pending permit in the Chicago Data Portal as of July 24 to demolish 2310 North Sheffield, which stands in the middle of the two demos already underway. However, a glitch (my word) discovered over the weekend in the data portal has made many demolition permits unsearchable. One of those would be for 2316 North Sheffield, the northernmost of the quintet, and the large S-shaped residential building on the northwest corner of Sheffield and West Belden. 2316’s pending permit for sure used to be visible in the portal, but it is no more.
Photo by Daniel Schell
No viewing from the alley. Photo by Daniel Schell
Looking south down North Sheffield Avenue. Photo by Daniel Schell
The buildings are being taken down to clear space for a new practice and training facility for the school’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. Approved by the Chicago Plan Commission in November of last year and by the City Council in December, the four-story building will include regulation basketball courts and a variety of sports-related amenities that DePaul hopes will enable the recruitment of student-athletes to better compete not only in the Big East Conference, but at the national level as well. The tandem of Antunovich Associates and HNTB designed the new building.
Daylight shows through the upper front windows of 2314 North Sheffield at right. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Rendering by Antunovich Associates and HNTB
Rendering by Antunovich Associates and HNTB
The 70,000-square-foot facility got its caisson permit on June 5, using the address of 2300 North Sheffield. The full construction permit has been pending in the data portal since April 6. Bulley & Andrews is the general contractor. Once demolitions are complete, a 24-month timeline for completion is anticipated.
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While there’s a perfectly good surface warning lot half a block north….. I just don’t understand
Parking lot **
One day, that will be developed as well. No doubt Depaul wants all of their buildings to be as close together as possible and this facility would be directly adjacent to their other athletic center
Can’t believe we’re demolishing these beautiful buildings
Demolishing gorgeous old housing stock in one of Chicago’s most expensive neighborhoods for an athletic complex that looks like a shopping mall. Incredible work DePaul.
Correct. More ugly architecture coming your way soon.
Stupid
Not many years ago this block would always win the Sheffield garden Walk every one of those houses had gorgeous gardens
De(molition)Paul
absolutely disgraceful and now the building will be off the property tax rolls.
As someone once commented over the demolition of similar buildings in Wrigleyville, “the city is filled with these types of old buildings” as if to suggest the loss of a few here and there is no great loss. Except as vividly shown in Daniel Schell’s photos, the character of the neighborhood is being gutted, and for what, an athletic facility that could just as easily slap on a Home Depot sign –but hey at least from street level we’ve got some fancy brickwork to evoke what once was there….
not to be that guy, but the “character” of Lincoln Park has been gutted for many years now
I’ll tell you an even bigger loss, a world where we coat our city in amber in a misguided attempt to protect “character” when the character of a city comes from the people who live there. We live in old buildings with terrible floor plans, bad insulation, and tiny windows, and for what, so a bunch of people who don’t have to live there can have nostalgia for a time that’s long gone?
Let the kids play basketball, and embrace early 21st century architecture. You may not like it, because it’s new, but your great grandparents will be fighting to preserve it.
*great grandkids lol
I would also like to point out that the “character” of the immediate area is “college campus”. The buildings surrounding the construction are all like this. If you wanted a consistent “character” for this neighborhood then this building fits the bill even better than what was originally there.
Yes, much of the surrounding area is a college campus. No need for quotes. A college campus that houses 14% of its students on campus. It’s a commuter school. I’d know, because I went there.
In no world does this new building fit the bill even better than what has been there for 100+ years. What a dumbass take.
Oh so the character of a city doesnt also involve its architecture? Asinine take.
Insofar as the architecture of a city can tell you about the people who live there, an abundance of old buildings tells us that its residents are either averse to change or economically distressed
Or…. that they like the existing buildings and appreciate living in a city that is beautiful and honors its history.
I would love to see you walk around Europe lecturing people about the age of the buildings by telling them they’re merely resistant to change. By your logic, that must be the only reason the existing buildings are still standing.
Do you want to spend some time lecturing every other person who has commented (all of whom dislike this project) about why they’re wrong? You seem like the type of person who likes to hear himself talk.
Will there is literally a parking lot nearby that this could have been put on (with parking added to it too!).
I hope one day that parking lot is replaced with an academic center, or a dorm. It’s only a matter of time, the land is too valuable to waste.
The new athletic facility is being built directly adjacent to the existing athletic facility, which allows both staff and students to easily move between buildings. There’s no better place on campus for it to go, and DePaul is willing to spend the extra money to make the location happen.
I truly can’t believe it’s legal, or that the city would allow, all that housing to be knocked down when there’s a huge surface lot across the street. Makes me sick.
DePaul has a long, sad history of trying to recreate its legendary basketball program of the 1960s through 1980s. That remarkable era was largely the result of one man, head coach Ray Meyer, who passed away nearly 20 years ago. DePaul talked the City of Chicago into building a new basketball arena at McCormick Place over 10 years ago with a promise that it would revitalize the basketball program. That never panned out. Now they are tearing down the architectural legacy of Lincoln Park with a similar hair-brained scheme to throw money at the basketball program in its endless Quixotic efforts to revive the Meyer glory years. Meanwhile, DePaul’s enrollment continues to plummet and its financial crisis deepens. The school’s namesake, St. Vincent de Paul, must be rolling in his Paris tomb!
truth ^^
DePaul gave up their core mission of education in the early 2000s
Ick!
What this country really needs are more stadiums, arenas, sports practice/training facilities, olympic-size swimming pools, running track & field areas with bleachers, tennis courts, and a “new basketball center” for De Paul. Oh, and of course everyone’s favorite…ample parking.
This plan includes zero parking, and if Americans exercised as much as they should we would need twice as many athletic centers just like this one
Worst demolitions in recent memory, alderman and mayor should be ashamed, the wood fireplaces and trim couldn’t even be salvaged?!
What a senseless waste. Squandering our inheritance.
demolishing these treasures so their basketball team can still never achieve anything meaningful.
The character, charm and history of Chicago neighborhoods is disappearing one demolition permit at a time.
I agree with everyone here. This is the stupidest thing to do ever. To be born and raised in the city and went to DePaul. So, ashamed of DePaul right now. To build something for a team that doesn’t win… And they city doesn’t help, they need to start saving these buildings and stop replacing them with crap like this.
Removing housing in a housing crisis is a crime. This kind of development should have been blocked by our “progressive” mayor, but once again he has proven ineffectual. (Parking meter rehash still stings)
I’m not surprised the alderperson or even the community didn’t block this. They are all too busy knocking down greystones several lots at a time to build their Lincoln Park McMansions.