Loyola Acquires 58-Unit Apartment Building Near Campus

In early August, Loyola spent $35 million to purchase an apartment building which borders the university’s Lake Shore Campus. With the acquisition of the building located on the corner of North Broadway and West Sheridan Road, the university will add 58 housing units and five commercial spaces to its rental portfolio. 

The Arcade Residences at 1135 W. Sheridan Road was completed in 2019 and currently hosts Bank of America, Gong Cha Bubble Tea and Deep Purpl Acai Bowls. Michael Loftsgaarden, assistant vice president of capital planning, said the university intends to maintain the property’s existing operations.

Lofsgaarden said there had been discussions with the building’s previous owner Borekci Real Estate LLC about possibly entering a partnership in which Loyola could use parts of the building without owning it, but those ideas never materialized. He said it made strategic sense for the university to acquire the building when it came onto the market earlier this year.

“I think the primary thing is, again, the proximity to campus and the fact that we also have some you know, I’m not going to say exactly contiguous, but we have other properties right next to it down that stretch with the mailroom and facilities building right there and the Pork Chop restaurant right there and the Flex Lab building,” Lofsgaarden said. “It makes some sense from an assemblage standpoint.”

The seven-story building will be overseen by Lakeside Management, a subsidiary of the university which manages residential and commercial properties Loyola owns in the surrounding area, The Phoenix previously reported. With the new acquisition, Lakeside Management’s number of apartment units now adds up to over 550.

The new purchase also gives the university more flexibility in its efforts to find housing for students, according to Lofsgaarden.

“We can house about 5,000 students on campus,” he said. “But we know from the sheer numbers of how many students attend Loyola and all that, that there’s thousands of students living in the surrounding neighborhood. And so strategically it makes a lot of sense for us to own and acquire buildings in which Loyola students can be housed.”

Residents who were already living in the Arcade Residence prior to the purchase are still living in the building. Lakeside Management has begun to advertise open units in the building on its website.

Lofsgaarden said prior to the purchase Lakeside Management had reached capacity on its apartment rentals. Loyola admitted 2,864 new first-year students in 2022, according to the Admissions Office. 

Featured image by Holden Green / The Loyola Phoenix