Republican
state legislative leaders Senator Christine Radogno and Representative Jim
Durkin are introducing measures reigniting Rauner’s proposal to sell the
Thompson Center in the central loop to a private developer. The idea is to add
hundreds of millions of dollars in state budget savings and City of Chicago
real property tax revenues by putting the whole city block back on the city’s
property tax rolls. Alternative proposals for the private use of the block
bounded by Lake, Clark, Randolph and LaSalle streets include the Adrian Smith +
Gordon Gill designed 115 story, three million square foot multi-use tower, and
Helmut Jahn’s slightly shorter hotel and residential tower preserving the
Thompson Center’s dramatic atrium next door. Renderings of these proposals are
pictured above.
If
it were to actually be built, the 115 story tower covering the entire block
would replace the former Sears, now Willis, Tower as Chicago’s tallest
building.
