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Renewed calls to sell and potentially raze an icon of Postmodern architecture in Downtown Chicago could lead to a 115-storey skyscraper that eclipses the landmark Willis Tower. In a move to curry favour with detractors and political opponents, Illinois Republicans and Governor Bruce Rauner have presented a conceptual rendering of a 1,700-foot mixed-use supertall, illustrating the enormous potential of the site.
The state-owned James R. Thompson Center at 100 W. Randolph Street was designed by Helmut Jahn and opened in 1985. Its sloping exterior and expansive atrium was the subject of both praise and scorn. As contemporary preservation efforts mainly focus on pre-war buildings, Postmodernist structures are increasingly finding themselves in dangerous territory. Preservation Chicago, aware of lawmakers' vision for the site, listed the Thompson Center as one of the city's most endangered buildings in 2016.
Among the chief concerns about the Thompson Center is its deferred maintenance bill, which is said to total $326 million. To rid itself of that potential crushing blow to state coffers, Governor Rauner made a call for the building's sale and demolition in late 2015. The sale could have netted the state government an estimated $220 million, but the proposal never even made it to the Democrat-controlled Illinois General Assembly.
If words didn't persuade action, perhaps the ambitious illustrations will. Rendered by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the released image shows a light-skinned sculpted and crystalline tower stretching into the sky beyond the height of the nearby Willis Tower. It would include a breadth of uses, including office, residential, hotel, and retail. The plan is more of a vision and less of an active proposal at the moment; alternative options for the site include a trio of shorter buildings. Any sale of the building would require buying up the long-term retail lease agreements and relocating hundreds of state workers to other offices around the city.
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