Google is negotiating to buy the spaceship-like James R. Thompson Center in Chicago in a deal that could provide a much-needed boost to the city’s Loop business district.
The Mountain View, California-based tech giant is seeking to buy the Helmut Jahn-designed building at 100 W. Randolph St., where it plans to expand its Chicago offices into a large portion of the 17-story building’s soon-to-be-renovated office space, according to people familiar with the deal.
— CoStar
The future for Chicago's James R. Thompson Center, designed by the late Helmut Jahn, may be looking a bit brighter after the National Trust for Historic Preservation added the postmodern gem to its annual “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” list in 2019.
Last year, the Chicago Architecture Center and Chicago Architectural Club jointly hosted a design ideas competition to promote adaptive-reuse scenarios for the center and save the landmark building from the wrecking ball.
2 Comments
This seems like a good outcome. Businesses need to come back to the Loop and stop gentrifying Fulton Market.
Tech companies love those gigantic floor plates ... Does the Thompson have that? It'd be great if Google revitalizes this building and the surrounding area. Uber took up a huge chunk of the renovated post office building before Covid too.
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