Chicago Christian Schools has already begun using parts of Trinity Christian College’s former 60-acre campus, after purchasing the Palos Heights property last month.
Superintendent Mark Hamstra announced in June Chicago Christian Educational Opportunity LLC, a small group of investors “united by a shared belief that Christian education matters deeply and that it has a strong future in our area,” planned to acquire the campus.
He declined to provide details of the sale Thursday, including the final purchase price, but said committees of people with expertise in real estate, business, higher education and more will help determine the property’s future.
“This whole thing for us is about continued thoughtful stewardship of the property, and we want this to be something that really serves to advance the mission of Christian education,” Hamstra said.
Hamstra said since they July 29 closing on the sale of 6601 W. College Drive buildings and land, Chicago Christian Schools students have begun using the DeVos Gymnasium, with plans to hold homecoming events there.
Using the purchased space became especially important, Hamstra said, after a group of people trespassed onto the campus Aug. 23, forcing open the doors of Tibstra Hall and taking some items there, the Palos Heights Police Department reported.
“There was no significant damage,” Hamstra said. “Anytime there’s the perception of a campus being empty — it did bring a little bit of almost petty adolescent behavior, I would say.”
Chicago Christian High School sits adjacent to the former Trinity Christian College campus, while elementary and middle school students in the private school system are taught at campuses in Oak Lawn and Tinley Park. Similar to at Trinity, students at Chicago Christian Schools are educated in the Reformed Christian tradition.
“We absolutely are not looking to just kind of grab this thing, parcel it off and move on,” said Tim Vande Werken, Chicago Christian Education Opportunity Board member. “There’s a lot of overlap with the school (Trinity), from the standpoint of programming and future.”
Potential uses for the campus include adding vocational training opportunities for Chicago Christian Schools students, with Vande Werken emphasizing that investors are prioritizing honoring the former college’s history when looking forward.
“Whether it’s vocational, whether it’s higher education in some way, shape or form, whether it’s nonprofits, whether it’s different things like that — we’re just trying to really explore all those avenues,” Vande Werken said. “And really look at the legacy of Trinity, look at what that legacy means, as we kind of cast that vision into the future.”
Trinity Christian College’s final graduation was held May 8, six months after the school’s board of trustees voted
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to shutter the 66-year-old Christian private college and sell its buildings and land to fulfill debt obligations.While Hamstra acknowledged financial challenges in Christian higher education, the superintendent said the country is “seeing generational growth in the preschool through 12th grade Christian education landscape.”
“There’s lots of momentum there at our high school,” Hamstra said. “That gives us an opportunity to expand our program at Chicago Christian, but also to potentially think creatively about things like vocational training. And if we are going to lean into anything in the post-secondary space, let’s think about things that are different from a four-year.”