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Tribune to put tower up for sale

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Tribune Real Estate Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tribune Media Company (NYSE: TRCO), today announced that it has hired Eastdil Secured to begin exploring strategic monetization alternatives for Tribune Tower and adjacent land. The historic 36-story building sits on three acres, with 305 feet of frontage on Chicago’s premiere street for shopping and entertainment, North Michigan Avenue.

“The global renown of this building, its unparalleled location and development potential make this an incredible opportunity and we are expecting a high level of interest from a broad range of private and institutional investors and developers,” said Murray McQueen, President of Tribune Real Estate Holdings.

McQueen continued, “This property offers 100 linear feet more frontage on Michigan Avenue than Rockefeller Center has on Fifth Avenue in New York City. We see this as the future site of an exciting retail destination, surrounded by world-class adaptive re-use of the Tower and additional mixed use development.”

Tribune Real Estate will explore all transaction options with a goal of maximizing proceeds to the company while creating a compelling mixed-use destination for the city.

* Tribune…

Built in 1925, Tribune Tower was designed by New York architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, who won a contest held by Chicago Tribune co-publishers Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Patterson to create the newspaper’s headquarters.

Named a Chicago landmark in 1989, Tribune Tower itself would likely remain a centerpiece of any redevelopment. […]

Tribune Media spun off its publishing division — including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other daily newspapers — in August 2014 to focus on its higher-margin broadcasting business. It also retained a real estate portfolio that includes 77 assets, 8 million square feet and 1,200 acres of land. Tribune Real Estate is looking at redeveloping Times Mirror Square in Los Angeles as well as sites in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in Florida, and Costa Mesa, Calif.

Company officials have been talking about this for years, going back to Sam Zell’s days at the helm.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:33 pm

Comments

Well the editorial board has been for sale for quite some time so they should have no problem finding a buyer.

Comment by Give Me A Break Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:35 pm
As Kristen McQueary once wrote;

Last one turn off the lights…

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:37 pm
They probably just want to get to higher ground for when Katrina comes.

Comment by The Captain Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:38 pm
Oh you meant the building. Interior has been avail for decades

Comment by Anonin' Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:38 pm
Wonder if Madigan & Getzendanner is in the market for a new HQ?

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:40 pm
I have to say their explanation is some MBA worthy language…
Then again it sound better than.

We want to get all the cash out of the building we can..
Cash rules everything around me, C.R.E.A.M./Get the money; dollar, dollar bill, y’all

Comment by Oneman Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:40 pm
“No! What rooftop will I stand on to save me from a deadly hurricane that’s goal… is to teach Rahm a lesson? Don’t they know who I am?” - Kristen McQueary

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:42 pm
Well it is about time, particularly after the Katrina column, for someone to get in there and cover up this Joseph Medill quote: “I want the Tribune to continue to be after I am gone what it was under my directions an advocate of political and moral progress and in all things to follow the line of common sense.” Got to hurt morale for any of the actual journalists that still work at that paper to walk by that quote after seeing the Tribune’s editorial page these days.

Wonder what the new owners will do with all the decor in the entry celebrating newspapers as sentinels of our liberties and whatnot?

Comment by hisgirlfriday Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:55 pm
Should be lots of space from these suburban corporations moving downtown to house the remaining Trib staff.

Comment by Bogey Golfer Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:57 pm
They should lease it to the State, let the State fall a decade or two behind on its rent payments, and then demand that the General Assembly pass a law cutting back on its lease obligations under its “police powers.” Leading by example.

Comment by Anon. Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 3:58 pm
Might want to give the suite where CEO Randy-Randy Michaels and his wacky crew entertained “consultants” a good scrubbing before showing it.

The market’s red hot. Curious to see how a new owner would repurpose and whether the paper could afford the rent to stay there.

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:01 pm
Rauner can buy it and give it to Bruce Dold and the editorial board as a Christmas gift.

Comment by Buzzie Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:04 pm
“They probably just want to get to higher ground for when Katrina comes.”

Or for when the storm depicted in “Category 6: Day of Destruction” strikes:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428144/

Comment by Secret Square Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:05 pm
Well, if the new owners want to kick the Tribune out maybe Rauner will offer them space in the Thompson Center. After all, the editorial board works for him already.

Comment by Wensicia Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:10 pm
the new Capfax tower……..

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:29 pm
The time is ripe. The move is long overdue.

Comment by walker Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:34 pm
“This property offers 100 linear feet more frontage on Michigan Avenue than Rockefeller Center has on Fifth Avenue in New York City.”

What an odd thing to say.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:34 pm
47th it was that or say…. its built on a giant concrete raft floating in a swamp…..

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:46 pm
It’s like saying Ping Tom park has more linear feet of river frontage on the south branch than the Tower of London has on the Thames.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:50 pm
There should be enough room to store Exelon nuclear waste in that tower, assuming it can be moved safely to the site.

Comment by Katich Walker, Jr. Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 4:55 pm
47, having a wide “front door” if you will is attractive to developers who might want to jam the thing left to right with Starbucks and whatever. But that ain’t Rock Cen and God forbid it happens to the Trib Tower ground.

That sentence was terribly awkward.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 5:06 pm
Tne fancy burger joint on the Pioneer Court side seems to do boffo business in good weather.

I guess a $16 burger with a long explanation and a $9 “beer pairing” makes some think they’re having chateaubriand and Bordeaux in a cafe on the rive gauche.

For me, $25 can buy you a lot of beers and a burger of nearly authentic food products, with a range of free, unlimited condiments, just under the street at the Goat.

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 5:28 pm
Wow. Maybe they should also put up their ‘editorial’ bunch up for sale as well. Maybe first. Take ANY bid over $12 fo dee bunch.

Comment by sal-says Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 5:56 pm
Madigan…Democratic Super-majority…

Comment by morty Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 6:49 pm
You know what this leads to next, grafting a much bigger skyscraper on the back of the Tribune site and blocking off all the light to Michigan Avenue. The city needs to put zoning restrictions on and around important public spaces before every CEO in town starts exploring “monetization.” Back in the 1910s, when this country was more progressive than it is now, it took just one blatant “monetization” grab, the hulking monster of a superblock that is the New York Equitable Building, to get planners and leaders to realize this. But I guess we’re happy a hundred years later to turn Chicago into an overbuilt jungle with no natural light at street level or sense of space.

Comment by Angry Chicagoan Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 7:05 pm
What happens to the moon rock?

Comment by Educated in the Suburbs Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 8:52 pm
Sad.

Comment by Keyser Soze Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 11:19 pm
The tribune sold its credibility long ago; why not sell the building too?

Comment by Sam Zell Thursday, Oct 8, 15 @ 11:35 pm