About Roosevelt University Wabash Building

Location: Chicago, Illinois
Development Manager: Jones Lang LaSalle
Developer: John Buck Company
Designer: VOA Associates Inc.
Size: 420,000 square feet

Roosevelt University’s Student Living, Academic, and Recreation Center (also called the Wabash Building) epitomizes the school’s “vertical university” philosophy by creating an internal “campus” that balances modern classrooms, administrative offices, and sustainable student spaces, as well as the legacy of the historic Auditorium Building. Preservation of the historic facade of the Fine Arts Annex illustrates the university’s commitment to its cultural landmark and its duty to advance social justice and civic engagement in the area.

Providing nearly 420,000 square feet of space, the Wabash Building is an expansion of Roosevelt University’s Chicago campus; it is adjacent and connected to the existing campus space, located in the historic Auditorium Building. With an academic core of laboratories, lecture halls, and various types of classrooms, the building also accommodates the university’s administration, student union, and student residential spaces. With all these uses, the tower is certified LEED Gold; half its roof area is a green roof.