As the state of Illinois tries to find a buyer for the James R. Thompson Center, a downtown alderman is moving to up-zone the Loop property. If approved, the measure could potentially clear a path for a soaring skyscraper to rise at 100 W. Randolph Street.

On Wednesday, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) introduced an ordinance to change the zoning of the site to DC-16 Downtown Core District. Under the Chicago Zoning Code, the designation allows for high-rises with no height limit. The move restores the property to its original zoning, which was stripped away by Reilly's predecessor. 

Completed in 1985, the James R. Thompson Center houses government offices for the State of Illinois as well as a CTA station, a public plaza, and an atrium lined with retail space.Shutterstock

"It's one of the premier blocks in the entire city of Chicago and the potential for a 2 million-square-foot tower on this site would have a dramatic impact on Chicago's skyline," Reilly told the Chicago Tribune. 

Although any large-scale proposal will likely trigger the city's Planned Development process (and further review), Reilly's ordinance is an important step in the years-long saga to redevelop the controversial postmodern building designed by notable architect Helmut Jahn in 1985.

In 2015 and 2017, then-Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner floated selling the site as a means to generate revenue for the cash-strapped state. Rauner's administration even circulated conceptual renderings of a 115-story, 1,700-foot-tall skyscraper to illustrate the site's redevelopment potential.

A conceptual rendering from 2017 showing a 1,700-foot-tall skyscraper rising from the Thompson Center site.Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Rauner's plan to unload the property never came to fruition and the issue of what to do with the Thompson Center was kicked down the road to Gov. J. B. Pritzker. The current administration in Springfield has come out in support of selling the building and hired Ernst & Young to market the property in late 2019.

"At least now, prospective buyers know what they're signing up for," Ald. Reilly told Crain's Chicago Business. "I'm hoping this means the state will finally follow through and sell the site so we can do something exciting there to re-energize and reactivate this part of downtown."

Zoning isn't the only obstacle for the sale and redevelopment of James R. Thompson Center. The block-sized site sits atop CTA rail infrastructure that will need to be maintained throughout construction, and a master lease covering the building's retail space isn't set to expire until 2034. And then there's the issue of the pandemic and the glut of vacant office space and hotel rooms piling up in Chicago's central business district.

Meanwhile, preservationists continue to push to save the Thompson Center and its unique love-it-or-hate-it architecture. In 2018, Helmut Jahn and Landmarks Illinois revealed their own concept for the site that preserved the building's distinctive 1980s-era atrium and added a slender 110-story tower to its southwest corner.

Working with Helmut Jahn, the building's original architect, Landmarks Illinois came up with a concept that preserves the Thompson Center's atrium while constructing a new supertall skyscraper at its corner.Landmarks Illinois