HOW FRITZ KAEGI FEELS ABOUT THE MAG MILE Newly released data shows the Cook County assessor is bullish on hotels and takes a relatively rosy view of retail and office space on the corridor I By Danny Ecker
M
agnificent Mile hotels have recovered all of their lost value from the COVID-19 pandemic and then some, if you ask Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi. That's probably hard to buy for hoteliers along one of the city's biggest tourist destinations. At the InterContinental Chicago hotel at 505 N. Michigan Ave., a comeback from
Overall, the total assessed value for properties in North Chicago Township rose 30%, according to a news release from the assessor’s office.
Chicago was assessed at about $51.1 million, a 186% increase from where the appeals board pegged it in 2023, county data shows. Those valuation leaps and similar tripledigit percentage ones for the Warwick Allerton, Park Hyatt Chicago and Peninsula Chicago hotels along North Michigan
the pain of the public health crisis has pushed the 45-story building's assessed value to $96.2 million, newly released assessment data shows. That's a whopping 284% higher than the property's final assessed value last year after the owner of the 792-room inn appealed to the Cook County Board of Review. Just up the street, the 347-room Omni
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Columbia College had a huge drop in freshman enrollment The school faced a turbulent year with the resignation of its president and staff layoffs to address a $38M budget deficit
AFUNKYDAMSEL VIA FLICKR
By Brandon Dupré
After a turbulent year for Columbia College Chicago, which saw its president resign amid a mounting budget deficit and the school lay off 70 employees and cut programs, the arts school recorded its lowest freshman enrollment in recent memory. The school reported 959 new enrolled freshmen for fall 2024, a 40% decrease from just a year ago and a 55% drop from its freshman enrollment over a decade ago. The school told Crain’s it was its lowest freshman enrollment in the last 15
years, but could not provide further historical context beyond that. “I think we took reputational damage this last year,” said the school’s chief of staff, Laurent Pernot. He said that damage may have contributed to the large drop in enrolled freshmen this year. The enrollment figures are salt in the wounds for a private arts college that is coming off one of its most turbulent academic years in recent memory and has work to do to close a $38 million deficit for
VOL. 47, NO. 42 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
DAN MCGRATH Jerry Reinsdorf has threatened to move the White Sox before. This is different.
EDUCATION At UChicago, new Nobel Prize adds a touch of irony to an old dispute.
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See COLUMBIA on Page 23
DANNY ECKER
OCTOBER 28, 2024