The Associated Press State & Local Wire

January 25, 2006 Wednesday 9:52 PM GMT

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL

Developer, foundation buy former Barat College campus

DATELINE: LAKE FOREST Ill.


A local developer and nonprofit foundation have teamed up to buy the now-shuttered Barat College campus from DePaul University, the parties announced Wednesday.

Development plans for the 23-acre campus here have not been finalized, but the deal between the Barat Education Foundation and Barat Woods LLC includes condominiums at Old Main, the former liberal arts school's original structure, and protecting the large south lawn, officials said.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed Wednesday. A foundation spokeswoman and DePaul University spokeswoman both declined to give details of the sale price.

"The Foundation has spent the last two years searching for a partner that would embrace our mission of education, social responsibility and community participation," foundation chairman Sheila Smith said in a statement. "We are absolutely thrilled that this collaboration will allow the Foundation to continue the Barat legacy on campus."

The foundation was formed in 2000 when Barat College's alliance with DePaul was announced. It offers scholarships, a center for women's leadership and a grant program "to maintain the Barat legacy."

The agreement with Barat Woods, managed by developer Robert Shaw, was reached after more than a year of talks between DePaul, the city of Lake Forest and a public task force, officials said.

"DePaul is proud of its collaboration with the city to envision a high quality, low impact concept for the neighborhood, and particularly pleased that BEF's involvement signals a continuity of concern for the city of Lake Forest and its residents," DePaul's president, the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, said in a statement.

Faced with dwindling enrollment, tens of millions of dollars in needed repairs and a small endowment, DePaul trustees voted to close Barat's doors last June, a year after celebrating the school's 100th anniversary in this suburb north of Chicago.