Groupon Is Looking to Buy Wrigley Building

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Aug 20, 2011 9:00PM

Despite recent news of Groupon's massive second quarter losses and the issues with its IPO filings, the internet startup is considering purchasing the landmark Wrigley Building on the Magnificent Mile. Wrigley Co. announced last month that it would be moving out of its offices at its namesake building and out to Goose Island. Crain's Chicago Business reports that Groupon would occupy a portion of the Wrigley Building while keeping its office at the former Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalog building, 600 W. Chicago Ave. Crain's Chicago writes:

A deal would carry great symbolic weight, with the 120-year-old Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. turning over one of the most prominent business addresses in town to a three-year-old company that already has become the city's best-known 21st-century brand name.

Currently, about 40 percent of the office space in the Wrigley Building is vacant, and the building needs millions of dollars of renovations. Experts say the building is worth about $35 million to $45 million, a number which presumably was derived using "rational math," unlike what analysts called the Groupon IPO filings. Groupon would be purchasing a certain amount of status, too, though. Crain's Chicago Business writes:

“It puts (Groupon) front and center on one of the most visible tourism intersections of the city,” said Jon DeVries, director of the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate at Roosevelt University. “It's always been an attention-grabbing building. For any company that prizes its image, it would be a great trophy.”

It won't be renamed the Groupon Building, though. Wrigley has said it will require any building to keep the name.