The Roycemore School held a ground breaking ceremony to mark its move to a new location at 1200 Davis Street in Evanston yesterday.
Officials from the school and the community of Evanston, as well as commercial real estate practitioners, gathered to
commemorate Rocyemore’s recent purchase of a 68,000-square-foot building at Ridge Road and Davis Street. The building, formerly occupied by the General Board of Pension Funds for the United Methodist Church, will be retrofitted to fit the school’s needs.
“This is an incredible testament to the will and determination of a small, private school,” said Randy Podolsky, managing principal of Podolsky Northstar CORFAC International, the owner’s representative in the transaction.
Assisting Randy Podolsky with this assignment were Adam J. Tarantur, vice president; Thomas J. Callahan,senior vice president; and Melissa L. Podolsky, senior vice president
Podolsky says that the multi-year search for a new location spanned from Wilmette to the north side of Chicago, but that Evanston was always the preferred location.
The nearly century old school is currently located 640 Lincoln Avenue in Evanston, where it will be vacating a building that it rents from Northwestern University. Depending on the construction schedule, the school plans to move to the new facility in late 2011 or early 2012.
The Dobbins Group has been retained as the general contractor for the project.
YAS Architecture,LLC created the architectural and interior design and prepared the construction drawings which will be used by the general contractor to construct the new school. YAS Architecture,LLC will continue to assist Roycemore School during the construction phase.
Tom Dobbins, president of The Dobbins Group, said that the firm will be adding a gymnasium, building out classroom space, and changing the entrance to the 50-year-old building. Light demolition has already been completed on the interiors.
According to Roycemore’s Web site, the building will be wired for fibre-optics, increasing the networks capability and speed, and classrooms will have ceiling-mounted LCD technology to support lectures and presentations.
The school has plans to grow into its new location. With its increased space, the school hopes to increase its enrollment to 350 students, almost 100 more than it currently accommodates.
