 Drawing courtesy of the Mills Corp.  Drawing courtesy of the Mills Corp.  Scroll down for more pictures
 Drawing courtesy of the Mills Corp.  The WBBM-TV streetfront broadcast studios.
Drawing courtesy of Mills Corp.  The WBBM-TV streetfront broadcast studios.
Drawing courtesy of Mills Corp.  Drawing courtesy of the Mills Corp.  Drawing courtesy of the Mills Corp.  Construction progress: May, 2008  Construction progress - August, 2006
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
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108 North State
In real estate, it's all about location. And this parcel of land has one of the most desirable locations in all Chicago. But being desirable isn't easy. 108 North State spent more than a decade as a vacant lot, since a jumble of run-down buildings were leveled in 1989. Before that date, it was a standard Chicago commercial block covered with buildings between one and six-stories tall. Though it sounds innocuous, it was a cancer on the area. The buildings were run down and attracted vagrants, junkies, and worse. Even the vacant lot was better than the buildings that preceded it.
A number of plans came and went over the years. Everything from an American branch of British luxury retailer Harrod's to a 100-story megatower. While waiting for development, the lot served as a location for various festivals and city events.
Finally in 2004 things started to actually happen. The plan that finally turned an eyesore into a landmark was a mix of office, retail, residential, and hotel space. By 2005, dirt was finally turning and people, long weary of broken promises, started actually believing that something would happen.
The company behind the plan was the Mills Corporation, of Gurnee Mills, Grapevine Mills, Katy Mills, etc... fame. Mills is adroit at turning vacant plots of land into entertainment and shopping destinations, combining theme park settings with retail to create a destination of their own. At first it appeared to be out of place in the heart of the Loop. The location across the street from the once-great Marshall Field's seemed a little dicey especially now that Field's heritage and luster has been lost to corporate sell-offs.
But the timing was perfect -- just as the mall component was getting built, State Street started undergoing a renaissance. The street that was once Chicago's shopping hub was returning to prominence. Old vacant storefronts were being replaced by gleaming new shops. Nasty run-down stores of questionable utility were replaced by art stores catering to students, coffee shops, and freestanding outlets of East Coast and European clothing stores. Even the crusty old Palmer House Hilton renovated its ground floor retail arcade to bring in a newer, younger mix of shopping opportunities. With State Street once again becoming the city's third great shopping district (Behind Oak Street and Michigan Avenue) The idea of a mall in the Loop no longer seemed strange, and many hoped it could provide the kind of anchor needed to help funnel business into struggling properties like Macy's on State and the former Carson Pirie Scott building.
But in spite of many hopes and big plans, things change. The plan was amended amid rough economic times. The residential component has been removed, leaving a mall at the base, plus an office tower and a hotel tower.
Underneath 108 North State was supposed to be a transit hub. This was one of Mayor Daley's pet projects. He envisioned a place where people headed to O'Hare and Midway airports could check their luggage before leaving downtown, then take an express train directly to the airport. The idea was to reduce lines and congestion at the airport, and make traveling more convenient for passengers who wouldn't have to schlep their bags on the el. Individual airlines have tried similar experiments in other cities with mixed results. But in mid-2008, the plan was mothballed. The Chicago Transit Authority began work on the station, but simply didn't have enough money to complete the mayor's vision. For now the station is abandoned and there's no indication it will ever return to service.
However, other parts of this project have managed to be completed. The office tower opened in September, 2008 along with the new WBBM-TV street front studio and offices. But that opening brought with it another disappointment for project planners and the mayor. The plan approved by the city included a massive video wall that would wrap around the Washington Street and Dearborn Street sides of the building. When WBBM television moved in, it instead put up one single video panel, leaving the rest of the space an ugly framework exposed to the public. - Retail floor space: 400,000 square feet.
- 1989 - The buildings on this 2.85 acre lot are razed.
- 2002 - The City of Chicago purchases Block 37 for $32,500,000.
- 2002 - Mills Corp, of Arlington, Virginia, is selected to develop Block 37.
- August, 2004 - CBS confirms that WBBM television and radio will move into the new building.
- 1 September, 2004 - Mills Corp applies for a zoning change on Block 37 to build a new retail, commercial, and residential complex.
- 12 October, 2004 - The plan to turn Block 37 into the 108 North State entertainment complex gets preliminary approval from the city's planning department.
- 13 October, 2004 - The Chicago Tribune reports that Mayor Daley is considering this location for a city-owned casino. On WGN Television Daley refuses to say where the favored locations for the casino are, claiming it would raise property values in the neighborhood. Just a few months earlier, Mayor Daley purchased a new home two blocks away.
- 3 May, 2005 - The Mills Corporation announces the names of the first few businesses expected to move into 108 North State. They include Banana Republic, and an restaurant.
- 15 November, 2005 - Groundbreaking.
- August 11, 2006 - Golub & Company buys the residential and office portions of the project.
- March 31, 2007 - Fire breaks out at this construction site. Witnesses describe a column of smoke climbing into the sky blotting out neighboring buildings. It was caused by sparks from a welder's torch that fell on some flammable material.
- June 9, 2008: WBBM Television begins moving in.
- July 21, 2008: WBBM Television was supposed to start broadcasting from its new streetfront studio on this date. But according to the Chicago Tribune, that date had to be pushed back because it wasn't ready.
- September 1, 2008: Official opening of the office tower portion of this project.
- September 22, 2008: WBBM Television begins broadcasting from its new street-front studio in this building.
- November, 2008: The city approves $12,000,000 to help build a new hotel tower above the shopping complex. The Loews chain is expected to run the 354-room hotel when it opens in 2013.
- The television studios in this building use the address 22 West Washington Street, a play on WBBM-TV's original channel number: 2.
- This complex was originally intended to have 800 residences.
- The art deco Commonwealth Edison building on the Dearborn Street side. This building is so important to providing power to the central business district that it could not be removed, and the mall had to build around it.
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 There are four comments. Brent Kampert - Sunday, December 7th, 2008 @ 6:05pm  Stephen - Friday, January 25th, 2008 @ 3:56pm Jim - Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 @ 11:14am Brian - Friday, March 30th, 2007 @ 2:38pm
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Finally Chicago is able to fill in the gap that looked ugly, and was called Block 37. These new buildings for this complex replaces it as beauty to Chicago's architectural tradition. Keep up the good work.
The architectural drawings look great! State Street has so much to offer, but is overlooked by many as being a run-down and out of date. This is just what is needed to help bring in more revenue for the city and clean-up what has become a very run-down part of Chicago.
