Sept. 25--Despite bold talk and a lot of wishful thinking, Chicago's old main post office has stood vacant for nearly two decades.
Now the city's patience may finally be wearing thin.
If the eccentric owner of the hulking 2.7 million-square-foot art deco behemoth, British developer Bill Davies, doesn't agree to a deal with a buyer soon, he'll lose the valuable zoning rights he won three years ago, Zoning Committee Chairman Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th, is threatening.
Solis introduced an ordinance Thursday that would strip the 12.6-acre site straddling West Congress Parkway of the mixed-use residential and business zoning Davies secured after buying the property for $24 million in 2009 and return it to a downtown service district.
"Three years ago we worked really hard to give the owner the zoning he said he needed to attract investors, and to put commercial and residential," Solis said. "In that time, within less than the last year, he's had two offers that would have brought office space to that post office."
"We can't afford to be rejecting jobs, tax revenue, development in our city, and so we want to make sure he understands that," Solis said. "And I think this move will get this message to him."
Crain's Chicago Business previously reported that Davies has turned down two offers of $150 million for the property -- deals that would have represented a $126 million premium on the price Davies paid at auction. Cushman and Wakefield, which is marketing the building for Davies, did not immediately comment Thursday.
But Solis said he plans to move forward with the rezoning unless Davies shows some evidence of considering offers for the property. "My intention is that we're going to introduce it and we'll hear it unless we hear something that's more positive from him," Solis said. "If he's not going to be serious, we're going to take (the zoning changes) away from him."
"Many people think (this property) is the gateway to downtown, and it is," Solis added. "It's got all kinds of public transportation going in and out of it, and in my opinion it's being wasted right now."
Jack McKinney, of Cushman Wakefield, which is marketing the building for Davies, said that he understands Solis' frustration but that if Solis makes good on his threat it will only "further delay" the redevelopment of the site.
"Everyone wants something to happen, but it's going to take time," he added.
While there has been recent interest in office space at the site from quasi-governmental, Silicon Valley and financial services organizations, the sheer size of the project means it will take time to get off the ground, McKinney said.
Davies believes that once completed the property will be worth $1 billion, but the offers of $150 million he received were contingent on other developers' ability to successfully develop the site and Davies was not sold, McKinney added.
The structure -- designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White -- was built in 1921 and expanded 11 years later. A new use for the building has been discussed at various points since it was abandoned by the Postal Service in 1996: hotel, water park, auto mall, casino, parking garage, residences and even an Ikea.
Davies, who lives in Monaco, originally unveiled a grand plan to redevelop the site with prominent Chicago developer Sterling Bay, but that deal fizzled after a dispute about control and the inability to land Walgreens' headquarters as an anchor tenant.
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