CHICAGO—Bennett Day School, a new, pre-kindergarten to 8th grade progressive school, will start inaugural classes this August at 657 W. Fulton St. in Chicago's Fulton River District. And local real estate developers say the school is just the latest sign that the former industrial area, now filling up with giant developments like K2 and Echelon at K Station, has become a true neighborhood that will now have even greater success at attracting new residents.
“A school coming in is a really great thing,” Steve Fifield, president and chief executive officer of Fifield Cos., tells GlobeSt.com. When Fifield started developing the K Station apartment buildings in the West Loop about ten years ago, “we felt that the neighborhood hadn't completely gelled yet.”
But by 2008, when the company was completing the 350-unit Echelon at 353 N. Des Plaines St., the local Jewel-Osco had opened, along with Fulton River Park, among other amenities.
“That's when we felt that area became a neighborhood,” Fifield says. The company also built the two-tower Alta at K Station, with 848 units; and Left Bank at K Station, with 451 units. K2, a 34-story, 496-unit apartment tower at 365 N. Halsted St. opened last year. As reported in GlobeSt.com, the company just completed a 105-foot bridge that makes the neighborhood more pedestrian-friendly by directly connecting K2 residents to the Jewel-Osco and the CBD.
“Day-care centers and pre-schools getting established in the neighborhood reflects the fact that the mantra of, 'I just got married and my wife is pregnant, now let's move to the suburbs,' is over,” Fifield says. So far, families don't predominate at K2, now about 80% leased, but the median age of its renters is 31.6, and that leads him to believe young children could be on the way. “And a lot of the low-rise and mid-rise buildings in the area have a lot of families. When the park opened, we were so surprised that right away there were a lot of kids and strollers in there.”
“Private schools are meeting an unmet demand of people who at one time would have moved to the suburbs but are now staying in the city,” he adds.
This building will serve the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten children with a maximum of 15 students per class. Bennett will also offer a drop off program for two year-olds. The principal and chief academic officer is Kate Cicchelli, formerly of Francis W. Parker School in Lincoln Park.
Cameron Smith, the lawyer and investor behind the school, tells GlobeSt.com that he saw a need in the neighborhood. “You could see all of the residential development, but not all the necessary services.” The Jewel-Osco was an important milestone, he acknowledges, “but where were the schools?”
“We noticed in particular that there were no pre-schools. There were a number of them further north, but it looked as if they had not followed the real estate boom.”
Smith's own sons will attend the new school, which will use the Reggio Emilia approach to learning. It was developed in post-WWII Italy and gives students some control over their course of study, gets parents closely involved, and makes sure students have access to lots of natural light and common areas called piazzas. “It's learning by doing,” Smith says. “We wondered why real world, problem-solving skills are not taught at a young age. Why wait until college?”
The school received backing from Wintrust, Chicago ArchAngels, Chicago Capital Partners and others. Bulley & Andrews, LLC has begun construction of the building, which was designed by Epstein, a Chicago-based architecture, interiors, engineering and construction firm. Smith says the school is currently planning to establish another site for older students, but is not ready to release any details.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
