Oct. 28--Forced to improvise after an August fire damaged its Old Town theater building, comedy troupe Second City will temporarily relocate its offices to Tribune Tower beginning Nov. 15.
The 14-month lease for two floors of the historic Michigan Avenue tower will provide an ornate gothic roof over the heads of about 70 Second City employees, while their longtime home is renovated.
"We're making the best out of a tough situation," Second City CEO and co-owner Andrew Alexander said Wednesday. "We obviously prefer to be in our building, because it makes it more convenient to have everybody in one place."
An extra-alarm blaze on Aug. 26 forced Second City to cancel shows for three weeks. The grease fire, which started below in the first-floor Adobo Grill restaurant, spared the mainstage theater of major damage, requiring only some fresh paint and new carpet before reopening to the public.
A large portion of the administrative offices, however, were gutted in the fire and may take more than a year to renovate. Second City has been renting temporary office space at One South Dearborn, a deal Alexander said would be "price-prohibitive" for a year.
Second City moved into the venerable Pipers Alley complex at 1600 N. Wells St. in 1967. Over the years, some of comedy's biggest names honed their craft within its walls, including John Belushi, Harold Ramis, Chris Farley, Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert.
The fire displaced about 100 employees in Second City's finance and corporate services departments, Alexander said. While some have since returned to the home office, most will soon take up residence in Tribune Tower.
"We're going to bring some laughs to Tribune Tower for a year," Alexander said.
Second City will rent 12,000 square feet of space on the 16th and 23rd floors.
Built in 1925, Tribune Tower sits on 3 acres along Michigan Avenue. Tribune Media, which spun off its publishing division -- including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other daily newspapers -- in August 2014, announced earlier this month that it was looking to sell the historic 36-story building for redevelopment.
rchannick@tribpub.com
