The owner of a new 456-bed dormitory in the East Loop wants to pack another 1,221 students into a planned 37-story high-rise next door.
A joint venture including Chicago-based real estate investment firms L&H Real Estate Group and Brownstone Realty & Development Co. has asked the city to approve a zoning change that would allow the new dorm at 51-67 E. Van Buren St. The tower would connect with the Buckingham, a 27-story former office building immediately to the east that the same developers converted into student housing last year.
The new project is a bold bet that rising enrollments at downtown colleges will continue to spur demand for student housing, despite the darkening economy. Student housing is considered a recession-resistant property sector, driven more by demographics -- as the so-called echo boom generation reaches college age -- than by economic cycles.