Chicago Post Office Sold

[JZ Detroit]

I wonder what they will use it as now that it is sold. Maybe the MCS could follow with a similar plan.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090828/...ago_postoffice

[crawford]

A similar plan? The Chicago post office has been vacant for years, and is virtually worthless.

I would be shocked if anything happened to that site in the next 10 years. It's too big to do much of anything with, and the floorplans are completely inappropriate for office, hotel or residential space.

[raptor56]

a must-sell because the postal service did not want to keep paying the $2 million annual cost of upkeep

That, my friends, is why the Chicago Post Office is still a viable building, and MCS is not.

[bailey]

A similar plan? The Chicago post office has been vacant for years, and is virtually worthless..I would be shocked if anything happened to that site in the next 10 years. It's too big to do much of anything with, and the floorplans are completely inappropriate for office, hotel or residential space.

Chicago's old main post office, which dates from the 1920s and has been vacant for more than a decade, was sold at auction on Thursday for $40 million

Virtually worthless? You have a strange definition. What was the last piece of property in Detroit to sell for 40 million? Or did I miss some sarcasm?

[DetroitPlanner]

The Post Office in Chicago sold for $16 a square foot. When you consider what the land is worth that is cheap. It has a great location considering it is serviced by both active rail and freeway. [[both actually run through the building!)

[bailey]

The Post Office in Chicago sold for $16 a square foot. When you consider what the land is worth that is cheap. It has a great location considering it is serviced by both active rail and freeway. [[both actually run through the building!)

It's still 40 million. If it was "virtually worthless" the City of Chicago would have owned it through a tax forfieture and the story would have been how they unloaded it to someone for $1.

[iheartthed]

It's still 40 million. If it was "virtually worthless" the City of Chicago would have owned it through a tax forfieture and the story would have been how they unloaded it to someone for $1.

Tax forfeiture? You do realize that the United States Postal Service is owned and operated by the federal government?

[buildingsofdetroit]

That, my friends, is why the Chicago Post Office is still a viable building, and MCS is not.

Not necessarily. As the reporter says at the end of the video. The LAND alone is worth about $300 million. That doesn't mean the building will be spared.

[mcsdetroitfriend]

To draw a conclusion here about the viability issue here...

Both sites have been used for film locale.

The post office doubled as a working bank in The Dark Knight

MCS almost always as an abandoned building, save for the Wayne Brady masterpiece where a full sized basketball court was installed!

So to say the building in Chicago isn't viable really just depends on the developers plan we can only speculate. It'd be nice to save it, but I do recall there was a pretty serious fire that started during the filming of The Dark Knight on the upper floors. To the extent of the damage I don't know, but that could perhaps impact the cost of saving the building

[bailey]

Tax forfeiture? You do realize that the United States Postal Service is owned and operated by the federal government?

Yes... i was comparing to a Detroit/MCS situation as was done above.

I also wasn't talking about the building but the "site" being called "virtually worthless". The building is most likely coming down.

[crawford]

Virtually worthless? You have a strange definition. What was the last piece of property in Detroit to sell for 40 million? Or did I miss some sarcasm?

It has 2.5 million square feet and sits on something like 20 acres in downtown Chicago. $40 million for 20 prime acres is pretty damn cheap.

And I would imagine this will eventually be torn down, so I don't think it's a good comparison for those who want to save the MCS.

[Quonset Hut]

Yes... i was comparing to a Detroit/MCS situation as was done above.

I also wasn't talking about the building but the "site" being called "virtually worthless". The building is most likely coming down.

Dang - that is a lot of building to tear down. 2.5 Million Sq Ft is 15% more than the Empire State Building.

[crawford]

^
The Empire State Building has about 2.8 million square feet of rentable space, so this post office is a little smaller.

[FlyingJ]

These numbers of this building reflect the old days of the RPO...since almost ALL rail traffic goes thru Chicago...and dating back to the RPO consequently most classic main post offices would invariably be placed next to the train stations so they could load up the RPO cars while passengers boarded the name trains back in the station. The Terminal Annex in L.A. across from Union Station in L.A. has pretty much been used for movies[[in "City Of Angels" it was converted into a hospital). $16 per sq foot is a bargain, easy. Thanks to Richard Nickel's work in Chicago I doubt they'll be able to pull the ol' "Madison Square Garden" routine on this place.

[313WX]

Well this is a sorta/kinda off-topic, but I heard first hand from a postal employee that the Post Office in downtown Detroit [[Fort St.) will no longer be the "main branch". USPS is closing its distribution center and sending most of the processers and handlers to either Pontiac or The Metroplex [[Allen Park). It will probably stay open as a regular station.

However, I also heard from the same postal employee that there's a blue print for that area laying out an "urban renewal project" and the post office is nowhere in it.

Yay for decentralization!

[wolverine]

I love this building. It would be a shame if demolition were the end result. Because it is so massive, I've heard proposals to hollow it out with interior courtyards to knocking off a couple floors on one end.

Everytime I go by at night the lights are always on in the building. It's being taken care of so it's in really good shape.
Some of the comments are correct though. The structure itself has very little value, the land it sits on is what is more important. All that land for just a petty $40 million, what a deal!!

[urbanophile]

Demolition would be extremely painful given that it sits on top of the Eisenhower Expressway/Congress Parkway.

[DetroitPlanner]

Urban, don't forget the tracks to Union Station go under it as well.

[LeannaM]

Fioretti said he told the groups that it would cost at least $750 million and, more likely, about $1 billion to redevelop the site. He said it is likely the city would devote tax-increment financing subsidies to help the developer.

Containing 2.5 million to 2.8 million square feet and spanning the Eisenhower Expressway and two city blocks, the building is so huge that developers have struggled for more than a decade to come up with a workable plan for the space.

Built in 1932 and once the world's largest postal facility, the building has been exempt from property taxes. Its assessed value would depend, in part, on its uses and the revenues derived from those uses.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi...,6727605.story

[3WC]

Wow.

The value is not in the land but in the air rights.

The city will never permit the thing to be torn down, which would require closing the expressway and the railroad for an extended period of time.

Besides, the cost to demolish it would probably be as much or more than the purchase price.

The people who bought it are not stupid. They will renovate and adapt the building. And hopefully, make a ton of money. Lot's of risk and it's clearly a long term project. But, it's in Chicago, a city where things like this can be accomplished.

[crawford]

The value is not in the land but in the air rights.

The city will never permit the thing to be torn down.

These two sentences are contradictory. If Chicago does not allow its demolition, then there are no air rights.

And I doubt it would sell for $40 million with an anti-demolition clause. Whether it will be a success, we don't even know what will be proposed.

But, given the global economy and the space glut in downtown Chicago [[one of the highest in the country), this is a project that will likely be measured in decades, not years.

[Lorax]

A building of this mass and construction can easily piggy-back a tower of up to 50 floors without a problem. This is what will ultimately be done with it. The lower floors a combination of hotel, apartments or condos, retail on the first couple of floors, and then a highrise with open floor plates ready to use for whatever.

[1KielsonDrive]

Thanks for the flikr Wolverine. I was taken aback by this announcement. As often as I'm in Chicago, I never knew the post office was empty and unused. As Wolverine said, it always looks lit up and lively. It's sits right on top of Amtrak and the Eisenhower. I've always admired the building, not only for it's beauty but also for its massive scale. Without commenting on all of the viabilty issues, I'd love to see it re-used in some manner. That's what Chicago is all about.

[1KielsonDrive]

It wouldn't have to be demolished to use the 'air' rights. There are examples of successful construction above large buildings.

[3WC]

Crawford and Kielson: You should understand what air rights are before commenting.

Nothing I posted was contradictory.

[[And, obviously, all real estate has air rights. And, air rights over existing buildings have been developed and that's nothing new. The value here is that a private - now - owner has air rights over pubic property.)