Trib Tower = Col. McCormick's Condos?

By Karl Klockars in News on Aug 20, 2008 6:10PM

As more and more ink-stained wretches flee the Tribune Tower like rats from the proverbial sinking ship, the Sun-Times tells us that the building itself might be up for grabs. And if you've ever gazed up at the Tower and thought of its architectural marvelousness (and consider what might have been!), maybe you'd be interested in dropping the estimated $250 million that Sam Zell might charge for it.

But can you imagine someone turning it into a bunch of condominiums? It's happened to so many other buildings around the city, but the Tribune Tower? For serious? Maybe. When Zell announced he was putting the tower up for sale, conventional wisdom said that they'd retain the right to sign a long-term lease in the building. But scuttlebutt has it that Zell is considering just getting rid of the place entirely...for the right price.

Although a third of the building is apparently empty (can we move the Chicagoist offices there?), the remaining half-dozen staffers would have to move somewhere else in the event of this kind of deal going through. S-T says they'd most likely move to the printing facility in River North, but our suggestion? See if you can't grab a few floors in the old Chicago Daily News building, aka Riverside Plaza. There would be a sweet sort of irony in moving the Trib to where a long-dead paper used to thrive.

Photo from asten.