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Originally Posted by Steely Dan
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Rauner wants to put Thompson Center on the block
October 13, 2015, 5:29 PM
The James R. Thompson Center, architecturally significant to some and an emblem of bureaucratic government excess to others, would be sold and
likely demolished to be rebuilt as a privately owned residential, office and retail space under a plan Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed Tuesday.
"From a pure financial point of view, this is a compelling opportunity for the people of Illinois," Rauner said.
"This building is ineffective. For the people who work here, all of whom are eager to move somewhere else, it's noisy. It's hard to meet with your colleagues. It's hard to move through the building, very ineffective, noise from downstairs, smells from the food court all get into the offices," Rauner said at a news conference in the lobby of state government's Chicago headquarters at Clark and Randolph streets.
The 17-story, 980,000-square-foot building was designed by Helmut Jahn and opened in 1985 at a cost of $172 million — twice what had been expected. Its sweeping design featuring massive glass panels was always controversial. Its open-air atrium design has proved costly and inefficient to maintain, heat and cool. Rauner said the building needs more than $100 million in maintenance that's been deferred.
Rauner said
he wouldn't "comment on the aesthetics" of the building. Later, he told reporters, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Jahn, the architect, criticized...
That goal "has not been upheld by the administrations that followed," said Jahn, who added that the selection of stores at street level "lacks style."
"The best way to save the building, and to improve it, is to repurpose it,"...
The first-year governor said he has talked to some developers
and doubted the building could be repurposed.
"It's just not usable for much of anything. The good news is it's really just structural beams and some glass so it doesn't cost that much to take down, and it could be replaced by a very positive, very impactful new building," he said.
Under Rauner's plan, the building would be
sold for cash at public auction, and an estimated 2,200 state workers would be sent to ...
Rauner said site appraisals are in process, and the goal is to have the transaction completed within one year. With towering cranes dotting the city's ...
The most valuable use of the land almost certainly calls for the building to be razed and replaced with a higher-density building, said ...
Schenberg noted that while preserving the building would be
"a challenge," developers "can be very inventive putting space to use" and have successfully repurposed other
architectural oddities ...
Rauner said private development would return the property to the Chicago and Cook County property tax rolls and provide new revenue to the city. The governor estimated
a new structure could generate $20 million a year to the city and its public schools.
"This is one of the most valuable, nicest blocks in the entire state, let alone in the city of Chicago," he said.
...
But the former Republican governor fully blamed Rauner's predecessor, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, for failing to authorize funding needed to maintain and repair the Chicago office building as well as the Executive Mansion in Springfield.
"The condition of the building, the deferred maintenance and the costs ...
"They let both buildings go to hell," he said.
Carpets are ripped and held together with tape. Inside, cockroaches can routinely be seen skittering around on walls, and last year the ninth floor had to be treated for bedbugs.
In 2009, a 600-pound granite panel fell off one of the columns of the building's pedestrian arcade and crashed onto Clark Street. The accident, which caused no injuries, prompted the state to remove all the arcade's panels.
...
Quinn's predecessor, Rod Blagojevich once proposed selling the building and leasing it back. He later proposed mortgaging the building to help close a budget gap, ....
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