Almost three years and more than $10 million later, Latin has yet to finalize plans for the four properties on Dearborn Parkway purchased in 2022. The Latin Board of Trustees and administrators have indicated that more concrete decisions regarding the properties will be released this spring.
The four properties—1505, 1507, 1511, and 1515 N. Dearborn Parkway—complement Latin’s 2017 purchase of 1547 N. Dearborn (commonly referred to as the Lurie Mansion), the 1972 purchase of 1527 N. Dearborn (the Lower School Annex), and the 2012 purchase of 1525 N. Dearborn (known as the “Squirrel House”). As with many private schools in residential areas, Latin can only expand its campus through the purchase of privately owned buildings.
The mostly contiguous properties offer Latin a broad range of options for use, but concrete plans and action remain elusive. As decision-making drags on, Latin continues to pay real estate taxes on all four of the properties purchased in 2022. The City of Chicago tax portal shows that Latin paid a total of $198,014.25 in the 2023-24 fiscal year. Additionally, according to Business Office Controller Donna Prince, annual operating expenses for maintaining all four properties come out to around $94,434, not counting insurance costs.
For the time being, two of the properties, 1505 and 1507 N. Dearborn, through the managing company Winnemac Properties, bring in an annual income of $310,207, according to Ms. Prince. While this level of income may exceed the property taxes and operating expenses, holding the properties is not profitable to Latin, given the debt service associated with ownership.
Current renters of 1505 and 1507 indicated little to no interaction with Latin and have no knowledge of Latin’s ultimate plans for their current rental units. Many of the existing renters have lived in their units for years (some as many as 20 years) and expressed some concern over the ultimate disposition of the properties and their rental future.
“We’ve been here for three years,” Campbell Gillespie, a resident of 1505, said. “We haven’t been notified of any plans from the Latin School or from our property management company.”
The remaining two properties are vacant, and area neighbors have not seen or heard anything that might indicate how Latin plans to use the properties. All four properties appear to be well maintained, although piles of unopened mail are strewn about the vestibule of 1511.
Unopened mail is scattered about the vestibule of 1511 N. Dearborn Pkwy. (Mia Kotler)
The Latin Board and administrators are responsible for reviewing campus facilities and their ability to meet the growing needs of the school community. These changes, according to Latin trustee Maury Tognarelli, are recorded in “a Facilities Master Plan [relating] the existing campus facilities to their ability to serve the expected needs of the school’s academic, arts, and education and athletic programs.” The most recent update was completed in 2021, prior to the purchase of the Dearborn properties.
While Latin students have expressed numerous ideas for possible use of the properties, neither the Latin administration nor other interested parties have offered any new information regarding the real estate.
“With regards to Dearborn properties, the Board has been working on a Master Facilities Plan over the past few years, but there are no definitive plans for the Dearborn properties at this time, outside of the two that are adjacent to the Lower School and used by the Lower School and Latin 360,” Head of School Thomas Hagerman wrote in an email to The Forum. “The Board hopes to have a clear direction for this work later this Spring.”
Mr. Tognarelli echoed Dr. Hagerman’s reluctance to discuss potential plans for the properties. “I don’t have any further comments to those made by Dr. Hagerman on the subject,” he said.
Area stakeholders also had little to add. Brian Perline, Director of Zoning and Infrastructure from Alderman Brian Hopkins’s office, said, “Alderman Hopkins and his office are aware that Latin acquired those properties, but there have not yet been any discussions regarding the school’s plans or intentions for them.”
This story was originally published on The Forum on March 7, 2025.