The tower is going up at 425 S. Wabash in the South Loop, rightnext to the university's Auditorium building. There will be fourconnecting points between the two structures. "This is the singlemost important development in the university's history since theAuditorium building was acquired in 1946," Middleton said in astatement. School officials claim this will be the second tallesteducational facility in the nation.

VOA Architects designed the tower, a project being managed bythe John Buck Co.Joe Caprile with Jones Lang LaSalle, the owner'srepresentative in the development, said the project is truly avertical campus. "It's a very creative approach to meeting thedemands of an urban school," Caprile tells GlobeSt.com. "You seemore often in city setting, like Chicago, where universities havemultiple buildings in a cluster-type setting. They were able to puta tower adjacent to their existing building."

The university was started in 1945 when the founding PresidentEdward Sparling walked out of the Central YMCA College with facultymembers, administrators and students in protest against a plan tolimit admissions based on race, gender and religion. Since itsfounding, the university has grown to 7,300 students, the majorityof them full-time students.