Student dorm digs were never this cool. The former Saint Stanislaus College, just down from the Division el stop, is currently being converted into The College Lofts. The developer must have managed to purge the odor of sweaty jock-straps from the school’s old gymnasium because the duplex units built where the gym once stood are proving particularly popular.
The project, by PNA Development, is at 1521 W Haddon Street. The developer is playing up the college connection to Gen Xers with sales slogans like, “Make your mark in Wicker Park.”
The immediate neighborhood is slightly sketchy, but agent Kevin Dembinsky of Second City Realty thinks the gentri-attention of a new loft development will help make it more vibrant.
Dembinsky points out that the neighboring nightclub Four, which opened in the past year, has already upped the cool quotient, with celebs of the likes of SNL’s Horatio Sanz seen drinking there recently. And as you’ve probably guessed, Starbucks recently moved in nearby.