SkyscraperPage Forum

SkyscraperPage Forum (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/index.php)
-   General Development (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=86)
-   -   CHCAGO | Thompson Center redevelopment | Jahn's MASTERPIECE will be saved!!!!!!!!!!! (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249335)

galleyfox Dec 15, 2021 5:56 PM

CHCAGO | Thompson Center redevelopment | Jahn's MASTERPIECE will be saved!!!!!!!!!!!
 
State in deal to sell Thompson Center
Pritzker announced that the state has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Prime Group to sell the building, a move that the governor said would save taxpayers $800 million.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/gove...hompson-center

Quote:

After reviewing two final bids, our team has entered into exclusive negotiations" with the team that would also "honor the original design of the building."

The new majority owners will pay $70 million upfront and intend to develop a "state-of-the-art mixed use building" with executive offices, retail, and hotel space. "The design is truly stunning," Pritzker said.
Quote:

Michael Reschke of the Prime Group said demolishing the building would have been "a travesty."

"We concluded that office was still the highest and best use. We look at the problems that have plagued this building since 1985 when it opened. Those problems, we found, were very manageable," he said, even opportunities.

Steely Dan Dec 15, 2021 6:01 PM

^ WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?


it sounds like there might be a prayer of a hope of the building possibly being saved, at least in part!


oh dear Pizza God, we need you now more than ever!

r18tdi Dec 15, 2021 6:04 PM

$70 million huh? Not exactly the $300 million figure Rauner promised

galleyfox Dec 15, 2021 6:06 PM

The Prime Group wants to complete the sale by 2022 and start construction by the end of next year.

Duration of renovation: 2 years but building remains open. State gov to continue leasing office space in the meantime
Cost: $280 million

Installation of curtain wall to separate offices from atrium.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGqp9vZX...jpg&name=large
https://twitter.com/alexnitkin/statu...178433028?s=21

BVictor1 Dec 15, 2021 6:08 PM

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/gove...es-prime-group

State in deal to sell Thompson Center

Pritzker announced that the state has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Prime Group to sell the building, a move that the governor said would save taxpayers $800 million. The new owners plan to preserve the structure.

December 15, 2021 11:41 AM UPDATED 4 MINUTES AGO

Quote:

The state has reached a deal to sell the Thompson Center for $70 million, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced today, and the buyers plan to preserve the building.

Pritzker announced that the state has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Prime Group to sell the building, a move that the governor said would save taxpayers $800 million.

"After reviewing two final bids, our team has entered into exclusive negotiations" with the team that would also "honor the original design of the building."

The new majority owners will pay $70 million upfront and intend to develop a "state-of-the-art mixed use building" with executive offices, retail, and hotel space. "The design is truly stunning," Pritzker said.

Quote:

Among other changes, Prime intends to install a "new curtain wall" to reduce the building's famously high heating and cooling costs.
Quote:

The renovations could begin within the next 12 months if the deal closes within the next six, Reschke said.
Quote:

Reschke says the renovation budget is roughly $280 million, and would take two years from the start of construction. The building will remain open during that renovation, with the state staying on as an occupant during the refresh.

Steely Dan Dec 15, 2021 6:09 PM

^ I'M TRULY STUNNED!

i had completely given up all hope that Jahn's masterpiece would be saved.

west-town-brad Dec 15, 2021 6:36 PM

$70 million for the thompson center

that's lower than the land value really

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/gove...es-prime-group

Zapatan Dec 15, 2021 6:46 PM

Nice, no supertall but this is a unique landmark so I'm glad it may not be getting torn down

nomarandlee Dec 15, 2021 6:52 PM

Love Love this news.

galleyfox Dec 15, 2021 6:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by west-town-brad (Post 9477317)
$70 million for the thompson center

that's lower than the land value really

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/gove...es-prime-group

The state is retaining 30% ownership and keeping its offices there. Not a windfall but saves money in the long run.

left of center Dec 15, 2021 6:58 PM

Wow, excellent news!

I wonder if they will implement Jahn's idea of adding a supertall skyscraper at the southwest corner of the structure. Based on the article clippings above, it does not seem that is going to be the case, at least not in the immediate term.

JN12Franklin Dec 15, 2021 7:04 PM

Wow. Very happy with this. Pritzker continues to impress me.

Looking forward to seeing some better images of those renderings. Looks like a lot of the red and blue colored panels are disappearing. Not quite sure how I feel about that.

thegoatman Dec 15, 2021 7:05 PM

So no skyscraper? What a waste.

galleyfox Dec 15, 2021 7:06 PM

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGqwlqLX...jpg&name=large

west-town-brad Dec 15, 2021 7:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zapatan (Post 9477332)
Nice, no supertall but this is a unique landmark so I'm glad it may not be getting torn down

I would still guess it gets torn down in my lifetime (I'm 40)

For some separate context JDL paid $90 million for the parking lot where One Chicago is being built

r18tdi Dec 15, 2021 7:08 PM

Isn't this the same guy who hired Lucien LaGrange to design that fugly RUI Plaza hotel in Streeterville?

west-town-brad Dec 15, 2021 7:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by galleyfox (Post 9477349)
The state is retaining 30% ownership and keeping its offices there. Not a windfall but saves money in the long run.

so total value is $100 million, which I would say is the value of the dirt in this location

jchase79 Dec 15, 2021 7:15 PM

I'm really happy to hear this... I love this building and didn't want to see it demolished!

I guess we will hear more details later but I'm still not clear if this is just a renovation of the building period or will also add a tower on the side like the vision Jahn released a few years ago.

r18tdi Dec 15, 2021 7:21 PM

https://s3-prod.chicagobusiness.com/...56.56%20PM.png
This image shows the JAHN logo in the corner. Perhaps there is still hope for a phase 2 vertical expansion?
I will say that a part of me will miss the robin egg + salmon color scheme...

Kngkyle Dec 15, 2021 7:23 PM

This is way better than my previous prediction of Block 37(2). Much better to keep an architecturally significant unique building than adding a couple 50-60 floor generic towers. Height isn't everything.

nomarandlee Dec 15, 2021 7:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchase79 (Post 9477389)
I'm really happy to hear this... I love this building and didn't want to see it demolished!

I guess we will hear more details later but I'm still not clear if this is just a renovation of the building period or will also add a tower on the side like the vision Jahn released a few years ago.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that they are not planning a supertall on site. However I also would expect that any reconfiguration and rehabilation work would be done so that it would not preclude a high-rise 2 years or 20 years from now. With the zoning change any seller would want to maximize potential usage and square footage down the road to get maximum return at sale.

galleyfox Dec 15, 2021 7:35 PM

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGq7ctTW...pg&name=medium

galleyfox Dec 15, 2021 7:36 PM

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGq7ctWW...pg&name=medium

thegoatman Dec 15, 2021 7:41 PM

How are people excited about this? Looks like they're just sprucing and remodeling the building a bit? I expected more. I'm glad its not getting demolished, but still.

Via Chicago Dec 15, 2021 7:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thegoatman (Post 9477437)
How are people excited about this? Looks like they're just sprucing and remodeling the building a bit? I expected more. I'm glad its not getting demolished, but still.

what do you think the ideal outcome would have been if you dont want it demolished?

ithakas Dec 15, 2021 8:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by galleyfox (Post 9477250)
State in deal to sell Thompson Center
Pritzker announced that the state has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Prime Group to sell the building, a move that the governor said would save taxpayers $800 million.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/gove...hompson-center

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/8ca/...uare.w1200.jpg
Source: Succession via NYmag

rivernorthlurker Dec 15, 2021 9:01 PM

Love it. Great news. As far as the supertall disappointees go - this will just displaces that potential to a different location. I think with the city's deadline for 130 N Franklin will get something u/c there in 2022. Also this means JP Morgan will not be leasing here and they still need up to 1 million sqft as they previously said and will have to build that somewhere else. I actually think JP Morgan will build on 130 N Franklin but we'll see.

Tom In Chicago Dec 15, 2021 9:02 PM

This truly is great news. . . looks like they're going to modernize the facade and create a curtain wall to seal off the office space from the atrium, which was what I was hoping they would ultimately do. . .

. . .

Rizzo Dec 15, 2021 9:06 PM

I’m pleased with this development proposal despite that I don’t care much for the Thompson center, only the atrium. But the improvements look great.

Kngkyle Dec 15, 2021 9:08 PM

Not too surprising that a contingent of people on a website called skyscraperpage aren't satisfied with this but they are wrong. Nobody will ever build something like the Thomson Center again because quite frankly it should have never been built in the first place. The design sacrificed economics for architecture. It's too bad the city had to basically give the thing away to save it, but I'm A-ok with this.

The current Thompson Center looks like shit because it's facade and interior have been left to decay for decades. Once completed this should look like a modernist gem next to the Daley Center and City Hall. What a trio that will make.

Tom In Chicago Dec 15, 2021 9:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kngkyle (Post 9477600)
Nobody will ever build something like the Thomson Center again because quite frankly it should have never been built in the first place. The design sacrificed economics for architecture.

Yep. . . we were lucky to have it in the first place. . .

. . .

Steely Dan Dec 15, 2021 9:37 PM

i cleared out all of the city vs. city crap.

please stay on topic folks.



what a glorious day to be a chicagoan!!!

wrab Dec 15, 2021 9:40 PM

What a remarkable outcome! I wonder what happens to the DuBuffet sculpture (Monument with Standing Beast)?

thegoatman Dec 15, 2021 9:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan (Post 9477638)
i cleared out all of the city vs. city crap.

please stay on topic folks.



what a glorious day to be a chicagoan!!!

This post isn't visible under the Chicago tag, I have to click the link you put in the general developments tab to look at this.

Tom In Chicago Dec 15, 2021 9:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan (Post 9477638)
what a glorious day to be a chicagoan!!!

Yes, it truly is. . .

. . .

Chisouthside Dec 15, 2021 9:54 PM

I only hope a semblance of the food court's dumpiness is preserved. love that place.

ardecila Dec 15, 2021 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thegoatman (Post 9477437)
How are people excited about this? Looks like they're just sprucing and remodeling the building a bit? I expected more. I'm glad its not getting demolished, but still.

This is functionally the same as Jahn's plan to preserve the building. Reclad the building in a high-performance curtain wall and make the atrium open-air like the Sony Center in Berlin.

Jahn proposed adding a highrise too, but that was really just a sweetener to make redevelopment more financially feasible. Apparently it is feasible without the highrise, which means more of the plaza space can be preserved.

I have some issues with the design as rendered... it looks sterile AF and has none of the personality of the original design. The usefulness of the atrium is greatly reduced by making it open-air, especially in winter. And it appears like this will lose a lot of the things that made Thompson Center great. The atrium provided a site for civic participation, and the food court provided some of the few affordable lunch options in the Loop. The replacement looks pretty soulless and corporate. BUT this is also highly schematic. Those huge 50' wide pices of glass will get more detail, and I'm sure the program for the building will be refined as well so there is lots of room for improvement.

galleyfox Dec 15, 2021 10:15 PM

https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/20...2364_col_1.jpg

r18tdi Dec 15, 2021 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kngkyle (Post 9477600)
Nobody will ever build something like the Thomson Center again because quite frankly it should have never been built in the first place. The design sacrificed economics for architecture.

This. 100 times this. So pleased that the building isn't coming down.

Via Chicago Dec 15, 2021 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 9477683)
This is functionally the same as Jahn's plan to preserve the building. Reclad the building in a high-performance curtain wall and make the atrium open-air like the Sony Center in Berlin.

Jahn proposed adding a highrise too, but that was really just a sweetener to make redevelopment more financially feasible. Apparently it is feasible without the highrise, which means more of the plaza space can be preserved.

I have some issues with the design as rendered... it looks sterile AF and has none of the personality of the original design. The usefulness of the atrium is greatly reduced by making it open-air, especially in winter. And it appears like this will lose a lot of the things that made Thompson Center great. The atrium provided a site for civic participation, and the food court provided some of the few affordable lunch options in the Loop. The replacement looks pretty soulless and corporate. BUT this is also highly schematic. Those huge 50' wide pices of glass will get more detail, and I'm sure the program for the building will be refined as well so there is lots of room for improvement.

i completely missed that the atrium would now be open air. agree with a lot of what you said. but yeah still too conceptual to really tell what that space would look like in practice. but it does mean we'd lose one of our few indoor public gathering spaces that had useage during winter. i see that being pretty barren most of the year.

but i guess it makes sense. they clearly figured theres no economical way to continue heating/cooling that space.

sentinel Dec 15, 2021 10:48 PM

Well shit, this is fantastic.

twister244 Dec 15, 2021 11:35 PM

Put me down as also happy this isn't going away. I know we want a supertall as much as the next person, but there are plenty of other lots in downtown where one can be put. This is worth saving.

r18tdi Dec 15, 2021 11:39 PM

Let's also take a moment here to appreciate the sheer hutzpah (hubris?) of Bob Dunn thinking he could pull off a block-sized skyscraper project here AND One Central at the same damn time. Lol

Chi-Sky21 Dec 15, 2021 11:57 PM

It is not like people still are not going to gather there, it will still be sheltered from rain/snow/wind and on top of a major transportation hub. The real key for me is how that space transitions into the rest, most of the lower levels should still have food/ retail i would think.

Romero Dec 16, 2021 12:48 AM

Proud Chicagoan

I grew up in Millgate next to South Works. After Penn State with couple of Chemical Engineering degrees in hand, I started working as a Process Design Engineer for Amoco in 1973 in their just opened headquarters at 200 Randolph. Back then, i said i was proud to be a Chicagoan and I am back home. i moved to Chevron and California in 1975. The news that the Thompson Center will be retained is a tribute to the Jahn legacy and Chicago. That announcement continues to make me proud to be a Chicagoan.

Randomguy34 Dec 16, 2021 1:20 AM

The other proposal is from Bob Dunn and they were gonna build multiple skyscrapers, no idea how tall. Lol looking at the math, both proposals require the state to buy space in either proposal

Quote:

But when that work is completed—tentatively in 2024—the state is slated to pay $148 million to buy back about 427,000 square feet on floors two through seven in the building, which Reschke's group will have renovated. Another option on the table is for the state to pay a higher amount in installments starting at $18.50 per square foot per year escalating by 1.75% annually for 30 years.

That means the state will ultimately have paid at least $78 million in a move that gives it renovated offices, unloads the building's massive deferred maintenance costs—key to the savings Pritzker touted today—and gives the Prime Group venture control of about two-thirds of the property.
Quote:

Under that bid, Dunn's group proposed to buy the Thompson Center for as much as $122 million and demolish it to make room for multiple high-rises on the site. The state would be a 350,000-square-foot anchor in one of the buildings and would be obligated to buy it back, beginning with a $69 million equity investment upfront. As a perk for the state, that equity would allow the state to pull in annual distributions from the property's income totaling $350 million over 30 years.

Aside from the upfront cost, Dunn's group would have then offered the state two options to buy the property: One in which the state would pay $250 million upfront and the other in which it would pay in escalating installments totaling $1 billion over 30 years.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...hompson-center

marothisu Dec 16, 2021 2:01 AM

The option they agreed to obviously is less than anticipated but also it will save taxpayers money which is a good thing. it'll probably get lost in the fold on some people who believe everyone *always* wants to do everything to raise taxes. From a long term economic standpoint I don't know which is the better deal but I appreciate that it might save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars up front to accept this deal instead of the other, and still have a plan to revitalize it into something that will generate economically.

sentinel Dec 16, 2021 2:04 AM

The whole situation is made better by the fact that Jahn (the firm) is in charge of the renovation of their own design. Poetic justice of sorts.

Mr Downtown Dec 16, 2021 4:10 AM

I guess half a loaf is better than none, but . . .

I sure would have preferred to see it restored to its original glory rather than saving only the structure. Invest in the double-glazing that Jahn specified but the state VE'd out 40 years ago. Wall off the upper floors from the atrium if necessary for noise and security. Fix the airflow and glare problems (we can do wonderful things nowadays with frits). But keep it the great salmon, aqua, and silver second state capitol Jahn and Thompson dreamed of. Not more than a decade from now, folks will be passing around pictures of what the building looked like in 1985 with the caption We used to have a country. A proper country. They'll be utterly incredulous that some opportunists obliterated its grandeur in a well-intentioned—aren't they always?—2024 remuddling.

Folks dreaming of supertalls never explain what would fill such a thing. Government is really the only sector with any office demand in this part of the Loop, and they don't want tiny floorplates built at high costs per square foot. Residential? There are lots of places in Chicago with views that are easier to promote to overseas buyers.

TR Devlin Dec 16, 2021 6:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown (Post 9478062)
I guess half a loaf is better than none, but . . .

I sure would have preferred to see it restored to its original glory rather than saving only the structure. Invest in the double-glazing that Jahn specified but the state VE'd out 40 years ago. Wall off the upper floors from the atrium if necessary for noise and security. Fix the airflow and glare problems (we can do wonderful things nowadays with frits). But keep it the great salmon, aqua, and silver second state capitol Jahn and Thompson dreamed of. Not more than a decade from now, folks will be passing around pictures of what the building looked like in 1985 with the caption We used to have a country. A proper country. They'll be utterly incredulous that some opportunists obliterated its grandeur in a well-intentioned—aren't they always?—2024 remuddling.

:yes::yes::yes:


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:36 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.