Northwestern Buys Seabury's Land, Buildings

July 21, 2009

Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., has agreed to sell its buildings and land to Northwestern University for an undisclosed sum. The agreement also includes a five-year lease which will allow the seminary to remain at its current location while a task force studies other, more permanent options.

“With this agreement we are doing several important things,” said the Very Rev. Gary Hall, the seminary’s president and dean. “This sale has allowed us to eliminate our debt, balance our 2010 budget, and double our endowment so that we will enter our new life with adequate resources to fund our ministries.”

As part of the agreement, Seabury will lease back the first floor of the main seminary building. This area includes the chapel, administrative offices, and the area which formerly contained the seminary library. The library has been combined with Northwestern’s theological library collection and the area that formerly contained the library will be used for classrooms, said Ronald Fox, executive assistant to the dean. the rest