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Tribune Tower Redevelopment Would Also Add Chicago's Second-Tallest Building | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

Adjacent tower would be 1,422-ft-tall, rivaling neighboring Trump International Hotel & Tower

Proposed Tribune Tower Redevelopment
The proposed redevelopment of the Tribune Tower property would include a new adjacent tower that would be the second-tallest in Chicago.
Rendering: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

Los Angeles-based CIM Group and Chicago's Golub & Co. unveiled plans this week for the redevelopment of Chicago's neo-Gothic Tribune Tower and the land surrounding it. A 1,422-ft-tall tower would rise adjacent to the 1923 landmark, according to the plan, and the soon-to-be-former home of the Chicago Tribune would be converted to 165 residential units and new retail shops.

If constructed, the new tower would be Chicago's second-tallest. Design Partner Gordon Gill of architect Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture said that that the reflective glass of the new tower was designed precisely to look different from Tribune Tower while the vertical fins clad in bronze-colored metal would compliment the historic tower’s Indiana limestone facade. The new tower is planned to house a 200-room luxury hotel, 439 rental apartments, 125 condominiums and parking.

The renovation was designed by Chicago's Solomon Cordwell Buenz in collaboration with historic preservation consultant Vinci Hamp Architects. While it would leave the Chicago landmark's exterior mainly intact, other buildings in the complex—including structures that once housed the paper’s printing plant as well as radio and TV studios for WGN—would see major modifications including a four-story addition to a former broadcasting building. Demolition of the interior spaces of Tribune Tower has already begun and the Chicago Tribune's staff is set to move to Prudential Plaza in two months. However, the Stones of the World taken by Tribune correspondents from famous buildings around the world would mostly stay in the building's exterior facade (some would be moved to an onsite museum) while the building's landmarked lobby would stay intact and continue to be open to the public.

The biggest fight over the project may be what happens to the Chicago Tribune sign adorning it. CIM Group and Golub have filed a lawsuit to keep the departing newspaper from taking the oversized Gothic letters that spell "Chicago Tribune" from the front of the building when they leave.

“We are doing everything we can to keep the sign. Like the Stones of the World, we feel it’s part of the fabric of the building,” explained Lee Golub when pressed on the topic. “The tenant claims it’s intellectual property. We believe it’s real estate that we lawfully acquired.”

The plan still requires city approval and would require at least one zoning change.