The State of Illinois has officially signed a contract selling the Thompson Center at 100 W. Randolph Street in the Loop. The architecturally significant building located on the corner with North Clark Street will now receive a multi-million dollar renovation that will completely change its appearance and use.
According to Chicago Yimby, the winning bid for the center came from the Prime Group headed by Michael Reschke with Jahn Architects, the firm of the center's original architect Helmut Jahn, leading the renovation's design.
The massive mid-rise takes up a whole city block next to City Hall and rises 308 feet in height with a 160 foot tall rotunda space that pierces through all the floors. The building was originally built to serve as a second state capitol in Chicago.
The state pays about $17 million a year in maintenance and has roughly $325 million in deferred repairs it needs to perform. The sale alleviates the state from those debts and with the contract now signed, Prime Group will pay $70 million to take over the land this summer and includes:
- A gutting rehab of the facility
- Opening the atrium to the outdoors
- Enclosing the work floors to reduce heat expenses
- Renovation of all the floors
The work will include offices for various state departments that will occupy the second to seventh floors at around 427,000 square feet which the state will buy back for $146 million after renovations in 2024. The new space will include access to some of the new outdoor terraces that will be built on the structure's angled facade. The CTA State and Lake station will also continue to operate during construction on site, while some jobs will be transferred to the nearby tower at 555 W. Monroe Street.
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The larger construction project will cost around $280 million for the 1.2 million square foot structure and will include the following:
- Reconstructed atrium
- New vertical circulation
- New entry plaza and ground floor with retail
- New exterior cladding with added terraces
- Potential for a hotel component to be added
Work is expected to begin this year with much of it completed by 2024, and final touches finishing in 2025.
Yahoo!Sports reports that Governor J.B. Pritzker's office has estimated the deal will save the state $20 million per year over the next 30 years by consolidating office leases and reducing operating expenses.
The redevelopment plan calls for installing a glass curtain wall to separate the office floors from the soaring atrium, which should alleviate many of the heating and cooling issues and noise problems the building used to have. According to Michael Reschke, chairman and CEO of The Prime Group, the atrium will become the monumental entrance to the future office building and would be unlike any other entrance in the city or the country.