The University of Illinois plans to expand the Discovery Partners Institute with a new location on Wacker Drive, more than a year after backing out of plans to build the research and technology hub at The 78.
The university’s board of trustees last week approved the $23.7 million purchase of 250 S. Wacker Drive, according to an online document from the board’s February meeting.
“At this stage, the Board’s action provides approval to move forward,” University of Illinois System spokesperson Deneen Gillespie said in a statement. “The transaction is not yet complete, and until it is finalized, we are not at liberty to share additional details about the property or its intended use.”
The purchase represents another office building in Downtown that’s being sold at a fraction of its pre-pandemic price. The previous owner, Credit Suisse, purchased the Wacker Drive building in 2011, through an affiliate, for $90 million.
Once the deal closes, the building will undergo renovations “to customize the spaces for the best utilization of the Discovery Partners Institute,” according to university documents and first reported by CoStar News. The school system pegs renovation costs at $36.2 million.
The 16-story building is across from Willis Tower and adjacent to 200 S. Wacker Drive, where the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the DPI currently lease space through June 30, 2035. Documents from U. of I. said DPI “needs a larger space for its growing program” and it expects DPI’s partners to use the new space and “contribute financially” for their use.
The institute’s larger focus is on artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and the future of computing — finding ways to apply those technologies across industries such as finance, logistics and energy, while partnering with companies, according to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. And last month, it named Gene Robinson as the institute’s new executive director and CEO.
The research and technology hub was initially supposed to build a roughly $300 million campus at The 78. But in October 2024, the university announced it would no longer have a presence at the long-vacant 62-acre South Loop property. That change cost Illinois taxpayers more than $30 million, the Chicago Sun-Times previously reported.
At the time, the DPI was already under construction at The 78, investing about $25 million in design and pre-planning. The university cited a desire to make Illinois a global leader in technology as the reason for moving to the state’s Quantum and Microelectronics Park, and that it was also exploring more cost-effective options for its headquarters.
The university has said it would operate a Downtown headquarters, called DPI North, with DPI South opening at the state’s quantum park.
A spokesperson for the U. of I. System said the university has spent $38.9 million to date unwinding operations at The 78, including design and pre-planning costs.
The DPI hub was announced in 2017 under former Gov. Bruce Rauner. Plans from 2022 for the hub showed it would include five buildings, including a signature steel-and-glass curved building.
