A Chicago investment banker and his family are giving $35 million to the University of Chicago for a planned $100 million arts center that is to serve the campus and its South Side neighbors.
The gift by David and Reva Logan and their family is one of the larger single donations made to the U. of C. and is the biggest earmarked for the arts there, the university said Thursday.
University President Robert Zimmer said the donation "will enable us to proceed with the building in an expeditious way." He said the center, eyed for the south end of the campus, is expected to be a "transformative facility" for the school, widely known as a bastion for Nobel Prize-winning research in economics and science.
The Center for the Creative and Performing Arts is to be named for the octogenarian couple, who met while attending the U. of C.
David Logan received his undergraduate and law degrees there. Reva Logan delayed her education because of their marriage but later completed her degree at Roosevelt University and became a teacher.
David Logan is managing partner of Chicago-based Mercury Investments. He also is a stalwart advocate for the arts in Illinois and was on the Illinois Arts Council from 1976 to 2006. His wife's family also has been active in the arts: Her brother Allan Frumkin was a prominent gallery owner here and in New York. The couple collect photography and artists' illustrated books.
David Logan said he and his family approached the U. of C. about the donation. He said he was asked whether they would like to fund a theater or some other piece of the center. He replied that he wanted to do something far more ambitious.
He said he was making the gift for his wife, who is in declining health, and in memory of his mother. David Logan's mother wanted her son, who grew up in the Humboldt Park neighborhood and used to pal around with Saul Bellow, to go to the best school possible.
"I have been amazed at what I have been able to do in philanthropy and work," he said. "It's a great tribute to America."
In addition to the arts, the Logans have donated to education, religious, scientific, journalism and community causes here and around the country.
The arts center has been proposed for a site at 60th Street and Ingleside Avenue. It would be south of the Midway Plaisance and on the same block as the Midway Studios, where sculptor Lorado Taft once worked.
It is to include a multipurpose performance hall, three small theaters, music practice rooms and a recording studio and will serve students, faculty and Hyde Park residents.
Five prominent architectural teams are vying for the commission, and one is to be selected later this spring, Zimmer said. The center is expected to be completed in 2011.
cstorch@tribune.com
