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CHICAGO-The Alter Group, based here, is planning to redevelop nine floors of the Pittsfield building, at 55 E. Washington St. Alter plans to redevelop floors 13 through 21, which has 147,500 rentable sf, into student housing with a total of 450 beds, says Richard Gatto, VP with Alter. Alter paid $23 million to building owner Robert Danial, an investor from Miami, for the floors, with the total cost of the project estimated at $45 million. The firm received a $36-million loan from First Bank for the project. Roosevelt University and Robert Morris College have both signed leases for student housing for five-plus years, Gatto says.

Roosevelt University will lease four floors at the Pittsfield Center and Robert Morris College will lease three floors in the building. Tiffany Winne, with Studley, represented Roosevelt University in the lease transaction. Matthew Ward and Bryan Farquhar, both with Alter, represented their firm. The two schools will be leasing the majority of the housing with 100 beds still available. Each of the two schools is within three to four blocks from the Pittsfield Building. Alter is in discussions with other local colleges and universities for the remaining space, Gatto says. "Within an eight-block radius from Pittsfield, there are 10 to 11 schools," he says.

There has been an increase in the demand for student housing in the area, Gatto says. "There is a very unknown student population here in the Central Business District, skewed to the east and the south," he says. Students who previously would have commuted to Downtown universities are now seeking to live there, he says. Current student housing has 100% occupancy. Additionally, there is a desire for more upscale student housing by students "combined with the willingness from parents to pay a little more to provide their student with nicer, more elaborate housing options," Gatto says.