The Chicago Tribune has a story about the history of the Thompson Center across from City Hall.
The ownership of parts of the parcel, one of which could be quite relevant is missing.
The Civic Center Bank was located on the southwest corner of the site.
This is the bank about which Sherman Skolnick revealed stock hanky-panky that brought down two Illinois Supreme Court Justices–Ray Klingbiel and Roy Sofisburg.
There does not seem to be any connection to that scandal in the purchase of the block, but I don’t think that can be said of the purchase of the Sherman House.
One of the few unions that supported Jim Thompson for Governor was the Teamsters Union.
That union owned the Sherman House.
Also missing from the article is the downgrade from two panes of glass to one in order to save money.
As a result, the glass-clan building never could hold heat or air conditioned air.
Purchaser Google has, of course, figured that out.
“As part of a $280-million renovation, workers are replacing the building’s glass facade with triple-paned glass, which will let in more natural light, cut energy use and reduce bird collisions,” the Tribune reports.
As the building was being named for Governor Thompson right before his race against Lt. Gov. Neil Hartigan, I suggested to Hartigan it could be an advantage because of all the criticism of the building.
