As part of its cost-cutting measures to address the financial deficit, Columbia has put the former presidential residence up for sale.
The five-bedroom house in the Gold Coast neighborhood, where two former Columbia presidents have lived since 2000, is on the market for $2.7 million.
The last resident, former President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim, who stepped down in July, recommended that the college sell the house at 1258 N. La Salle to reduce the now $17 million deficit.
He also recommended that the college sell the 624 S. Michigan Ave. building. Faculty have already started moving out this semester, as the Chronicle previously reported. But the building is still occupied by the library and bookstore.
Lambrini Lukidis, associate vice president of Strategic Communications and External Relations, did not respond in time for publication to questions about whether the college plans to offer a housing allowance to its new president. A presidential search for Kim’s replacement has been underway since the summer.
During the 2023 part-time faculty strike, union members and students pointed to the house, which also served as an event and exhibit space for the college, as a symbol of financial bloat at the college, referring to it as a “mansion.”
Dozens of students marched the three miles from campus to the house in November 2023. As they walked, several people chanted “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Dr. Kim has got to go,” and others carried signs with slogans about the mansion.
A listing on RedFin for the house, which was built in 1895, shows the brick orange house, complete with white finishes around the windows and a blue door. The 8,180 square foot home has a media room, an office, a library, several living room areas as well as two kitchens and an elevator.
One of the listing agents, Joel Schaub, declined to disclose the number of showings, but he told the Chronicle that in the first few days, there was high interest for the house since it went on the market on Nov. 1.
Kim was president of Columbia from July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2024 and occupied the house for 11 years. Warrick L. Carter lived there before Kim for 13 years, who retired from Columbia in 2013 and died in 2017.
Columbia’s current interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer does not occupy the house. He lives in Flossmoor, south of Chicago.
What students are saying:
Jenna Davis, a junior fine arts major and president of Student Government Association, said she is not surprised by the sale, noting that it is “evitable due to the financial spot of the college.”
However, Davis respects the college for selling the house rather than other school buildings that directly affect students had they been sold instead.
“The housing is funded by student tuition dollars, so to expect students to pay even more on top of the president’s salary, in the midst of potential programs being cut, for housing seems unreasonable,” Davis said.
She said the college should not offer housing to the next president.
“Because of the financial spot the college is in, offering housing to the new president would be doing the students a disservice,” Davis said.
Some students are upset with the way funds have been allocated. Junior acting major Amanda Garza was angry that the college owned the house through a financial crisis, cutting other things first.
“Why is there a house for our president being funded by the school, while important spaces like the Student Health Office are being diminished,” Garza said.
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
