Yep - it sounds like these guys can do it right once Davis is out of the equation. The article says the acquisition should be complete towards the end of May and that they intend to invest "more than $250 million" in upgrades to the property.

Emanuel backs off in Old Post Office fight

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...t-office-fight

If anyone can do this its these guys



http://www.starrett-lehigh.com/



Karasick said his redevelopment of the Starrett-Lehigh Building, a 2.3-million-square-foot complex on Manhattan’s West Side, serves as a model for the Old Post Office. After buying the industrial property in 1998, he turned it into a cutting-edge office building, scoring leases with companies including Tommy Hilfiger and Martha Stewart Omniliving. He sold the property for $920 million in 2011.

“We look forward to doing the same type of thing” at the Old Post Office, Karasick said.

Will the current rfp's still go as scheduled and due in June?

Looks like they've started doing something to the building:
http://i.imgur.com/IlFnAGNl.jpg

They also have a CBRE sign up on the NE corner: "1,000,000+ Square Feet available"

I don't think they've closed the sale to the new owner yet, have they? I know they have until June 1.

Maybe fixing some of their numerous code violations that they have there.

^ I doubt that the seller would be doing that a mere few weeks before a sale. This would suggest that closing has already occurred, at least if significant work is happening.

That's exactly what they are doing. The building is a giant fire hazard that has to be dealt with every year

Here we go:


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...512-story.html

Is anyone else getting deja vu from the image in the Trib article?

New rendering from 601W:
http://i63.tinypic.com/nd798y.jpg

Old rendering (2007) of the Walton Street Capital proposal:
http://i64.tinypic.com/hv6opg.gif

Gensler designed the 2007 proposal, maybe 601W just went back to them and tweaked the plan a little? Certain aspects of the design already seem dated. I can only assume much of the new rendering is simply a placeholder to illustrate the broad strokes...

"dated" is an understatement

^ Looks as if they are planning to do this, at least partially, on spec, perhaps with the hope that midway through rehabilitating the property they get a lease.

Maybe this is where McDonald's will land after all? Is Walgreens still a contender?

what exactly seems dated to you? the outdoor plazas arent amazing or anything from that crude rendering and could be tweaked. but generally speaking the real takeaway is that the building would largely be maintained and restored...so the lack of any exterior alterations is the best case scenario IMO. (rather than having everything chopped up or weird additions added).

I agree. Finally some serious preservation attempts happening on some good art deco instead of knocking the thing down or mutilating it! If restoring the building brings in enough people, the area around it looks keen for redevelopment. PLENTY of surface parking lots that need to GO!

Interesting thought about Walgreens. Gensler did a Post Office design study for Walgreens a while back. The latest rendering of the riverwalk has their name attached to it...

Chopped up and weird additions? The building is already a chimera of weird additions. You just don't notice it because they're all clad in limestone. I don't have any problems conceptually with deleting or demolishing parts of the building as shown in the 2007 rendering.

The only reason it's not being carved away this time is because 601W thinks they can lure Fortune 500 companies to the building based on its overwhelming floor plates. Quite frankly, I don't see why a successful company would want such a clunky behemoth as its public face...

This is primarily an office development, which means it is just as hard to get off the ground as any John Buck or Hines tower, but without the sex appeal and efficiency of modern architecture.

None of this seems to hold back the Merchandise Mart...

Appeals to different tenants in an entirely different (and much tighter) submarket. If you could transport the old post office to a riverside plot in River North it would have been converted a decade ago.

i actually wasnt aware it had additions already, but nevertheless im not sure how maintaining that makes this concept outdated. if sterling bay proposed the exact same thing you guys would all be going ga-ga

yea, and that submarket is no longer a bargain the way it once was. and these sorts of floorplates no longer exist there anyway. it may have converted a decade ago if it was in River North....but its indeed 10 years later so why would the time not be ripe to expand into other areas?

this building is literally a 5 minute walk from union station. if anything its more convenient than all the office space going up in fulton.