By Karen Berkowitz

Staff writer

April 21, 2005

Evanston Review (Pioneer Press)

One year after the announced sale of National-LouisUniversity's Sheridan Road campus cast uncertainty over the future of the BakerDemonstrationSchool, the K-8 school has emerged as the purchaser of the university's 6.7-acre campus.

Both parties agreed not to disclose the terms of the sale, which will not officially take place until June 2006.

Once the sale is completed, Baker likely will sell part of the property to a developer for single-family housing, said Mark Ter Molen, president of the Baker board of directors.

"We anticipate that a portion of the campus will be used for single-family residential housing, but exactly what the parameters are ... have yet to be determined and won't be known for quite some time," Ter Molen said.

The announcement Monday came one year after the National-Louis Board of Trustees voted to seek buyers for its campus on the Evanston-Wilmette border. University officials said the 77-year-old campus no longer fit its model for educating convenience-oriented adults juggling careers and family.

By selling the complex of buildings at 2808 and 2840 Sheridan Road, the university hoped to raise cash and avoid spending $16 million on repairs and renovations needed to make the buildings accessible to people with disabilities.

On June 30, Baker will become independent of the university but continue to serve as a hands-on laboratory for teachers and prospective teachers enrolled in teacher training courses.

Some time after the 2005-06 school year, National-Louis plans to leave the campus long associated with Evanston, though all but .7 acres of the property lies in Wilmette.

Chris Anderson, a university representative, said National-Louis is preparing to announce a new location to serve the northern suburbs within the next several weeks.

"We will continue to be affiliated with Baker and have an academic relationship," Anderson said. "We'll rotate our student teachers through there, pretty much as we've done in the past."

National-Louis' move will free up some space in the Baker Demonstration School building, known as Sutherland Hall, where the university has housed its library. Baker plans over time to expand its enrollment, currently at 280 students.

"We can comfortably become a 450-student school from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade," said William Melsheimer, director of the BakerDemonstrationSchool. "It will probably take us another five years to realize any significant expansion."

Melsheimer said the purchase of the campus was an optimal solution, as it will allow Baker to stay put.

"We scoured the countryside looking at other facilities and when all was said and done, it was very clear ... that this has not only been our physical home since 1926, but it's been our psychological and symbolic presence," Melsheimer said.

The school draws most of its students from Evanston, Wilmette and Chicago's North Side.

Several parents said the school lost some families with the announced split from National-Louis, because parents wanted to secure slots at other private schools, rather than take a chance on Baker's future.

"Certainly, we did lose some families because of the uncertainly, but there were others that came on. In spite of the uncertainty, we had many prospective parents who decided to cast their lot with Baker," Melsheimer said.

The school will launch a fund-raising campaign to raise capital to purchase the property and operate the school, parents said. The fund-raising effort received a kick-start in the form of a $1 million donation, made anonymously by a Baker parent.