Block 37

108 North State Street, often referred to as Block 37, is a shopping mall and development situated in the Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois. This site is defined by the square block bordered by West Randolph Street, North State Street, West Washington Street, and North Dearborn Street, originally designated as one of the city's 58 blocks. While the above-ground redevelopment has been finished, construction on an underground station was halted, leaving it only partially completed. The previous buildings on the block were demolished in 1989 for a hotly contested redevelopment plan under the then Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. The debates included the demolition of the Chicago Landmark McCarthy Building, which proceeded after the Illinois Supreme Court decided private preservation groups did not have standing to challenge the city's decision. After the site was cleared, the original redevelopment plan collapsed, along with several others that followed. Mills Corporation began construction in 2005, but its previous financial struggles cast a shadow over the project. This troubled history, coupled with a shifting economic landscape, led to delays in 2006 as contractors hesitated, fearing they might not be compensated. By November 2009, the developer was declared in default, prompting CB Richard Ellis to step in as receiver.…

108 North State Street, often referred to as Block 37, is a shopping mall and development situated in the Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois. This site is defined by the square block bordered by West Randolph Street, North State Street, West Washington Street, and North Dearborn Street, originally designated as one of the city's 58 blocks. While the above-ground redevelopment has been finished, construction on an underground station was halted, leaving it only partially completed. The previous buildings on the block were demolished in 1989 for a hotly contested redevelopment plan under the then Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. The debates included the demolition of the Chicago Landmark McCarthy Building, which proceeded after the Illinois Supreme Court decided private preservation groups did not have standing to challenge the city's decision. After the site was cleared, the original redevelopment plan collapsed, along with several others that followed. Mills Corporation began construction in 2005, but its previous financial struggles cast a shadow over the project. This troubled history, coupled with a shifting economic landscape, led to delays in 2006 as contractors hesitated, fearing they might not be compensated. By November 2009, the developer was declared in default, prompting CB Richard Ellis to step in as receiver. The project was then taken over by Joseph Freed and Associates LLC, but in 2011, Bank of America foreclosed on the property, ultimately selling it to CIM Group in 2012. The three new buildings were finally completed by 2016. of Chicago, including "Block 37"|alt=|left]]In 1829, the legislature appointed commissioners to locate a canal and layout the surrounding town. The commissioners employed James Thompson to survey and plat the town of Chicago, which at the time had a population of less than 100. Historians regard the August 4, 1830, filing of the plat as the official recognition of a municipality known as Chicago. Block 37 is one of the city's original 58 blocks in the layout of the town. Due to Block 37's central location in the Loop, between the State Street retail district, the city/county government complex, and the Randolph Street theater district, its history is a microcosm of the city's history. Even before the Chicago Fire, the block was home to one of Chicago's largest theaters. During the late 19th century, tall office buildings proliferated on the block. By 1970, the block was densely developed with 11 buildings, housing theaters, offices, a YMCA, and retailers like grocery store Stop & Shop. On June 14, 1973, Mayor Richard J. Daley announced a broad urban renewal initiative centered on the North Loop theater district. Over the ensuing 16 years, numerous private developers, notably the Rubloff Company and JMB Realty, planned large mixed-use developments on the site, with a mall along State Street and hotels and office towers above. Property assembly was facilitated by Mayor Harold Washington's creation of the North Loop tax increment financing district in 1983, which gave the urban renewal effort a steady revenue stream and eminent domain authority. The modern-day Block 37 is flanked to the west by the Richard J. Daley Center and to the east by the former Marshall Field and Company Building. It is part of the central business district that includes Chicago City Hall and the James R. Thompson Center (the State of Illinois office building) within 2 blocks.

Transit facilities

The design that broke ground in 2005, included a superstation that would connect the tracks of and serve passengers on both the CTA Blue Line and CTA Red Line, enabling direct transfers. The planned project included a downtown station for train service to both Chicago airports: O'Hare and Midway. The cost of the station was estimated at $213 million. The City of Chicago and the Chicago Transit Authority were to pay $172 million, and the Mills Corporation (the initial developer) was to pay for the rest. Cost overruns and delays forced the city of Chicago and the Chicago Transit Authority to pay about $100 million to cover already-incurred costs, and the CTA canceled the project, partly because it did not have the estimated $1.5 billion that would be needed to create express airport service (as opposed to slow local train service using existing tracks and stations). In the end, about $400 million was spent on construction on the shell of a station, plus $40 million in mothballing costs. In November 2009, progress in construction of the commercial and residential buildings allowed the Block 37 portion of the Chicago Pedway to open between the Lake station on the Red Line and the Washington station on the Blue Line. Because this only connected the unpaid areas of the stations, farecard holders paid the standard $0.25 transfer fare to use this connection. In May 2013, the CTA made this transfer free. After the failure of the superstation project, the city began investigating the possibility of a privately constructed airport express service using Block 37 as the downtown endpoint. The city announced in June 2018, that The Boring Company had won a contest to negotiate a contract to construct a high-speed rapid transit link to O'Hare, dubbed Chicago Express Loop, using twin tunnels and electric vehicles based on the Tesla Model X. Funding for construction and operation would be provided completely by the company, and the system would reduce travel time to O'Hare to about 12 minutes. The Mills Corporation purchased the property for the project from the city on November 11, 2005. Phase I of the project, the groundbreaking, began formally on November 15, 2005. This followed winning the competition to be master developer and having their plan approved by the city. The Mills Corporation has letters of intent from CBS 2 Chicago Broadcast Center, Boggi Milano, Sisley, Andrew's Ties, Banana Republic, Rosa Mexicano, David Barton Gym and new concepts by Steve Lombardo, creator of Gibson's Steakhouse and Hugo's Frog Bar, and Steven Foster, creator of Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood as future tenant commitments. Morningstar, Inc. has signed a lease to occupy about 210,000 square feet (20,000 m 2 ) across eight floors, making it the largest tenant in the office tower. In April 2005, Mills had announced a lease commitment with WBBM-Channel 2 for about 100,000 square feet (10,000 m 2 ) of space for offices and a showcase television studio. In February 2008, developer Joseph Freed & Associates announced Club Monaco, a Muvico Entertainment LLC theatre, a David Barton Gym, a Rosa Mexican restaurant, a coffee shop and a yet-to-be-named Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. restaurant will be located in the State Street complex. In June 2008, Puma confirmed it is opening a two-level flagship store on Block 37. Also, the Muvico Theatre was reported to have an eight screen multiplex. In October 2008, Spanish clothing store Zara signed a lease for Block 37 along with German athletic-wear company Puma athletic wear and British clothing label Ben Sherman. Other confirmed retailers include clothier Steve Madden, Godiva Chocolatier, sporting apparel seller Lululemon Athletica Inc., hair and skin products retailer Aveda as well as body and bath products retailer Sabon. Other stores rumored to be considering Block 37 at that time were Apple Computer and Crate & Barrel home furnishings

You Are Beautiful

During construction, 100 local artists created cutout woodblock letters to place on the temporary construction wall. They were posted on the wall adjacent to the temporary pedestrian walkway next to the construction site. The phrase "You Are Beautiful" was spelled out in various languages.

Apartment building

In 2014, CIM began moving forward with adding a rental residential tower atop Block 37. In March 2014, rumors began that an apartment building exceeding 500 units was being planned. On September 11, CIM issued a press release that it had obtained permits for a 34-story, 690-unit apartment tower, which Crain's Chicago Business described as "the biggest apartment tower the Loop has seen in decades". The official commencement of the glass-walled project was on October 29 with expected completion by Summer 2016 to include amenities such as outdoor pool and spa, plus a rooftop spa and fitness center. At the time the retail spaces were only 52 percent occupied. The apartment building construction eliminated the plans to build a hotel atop the structure. The apartment building construction coincided with plans to bring an 11-screen AMC Theatres dine-in movie theater to the building. The 4th floor AMC theater opened its doors on December 17, 2015, as scheduled as the Loop's only major chain movie theatre. The theatre is Chicago's first Dine-In Theatre in which patrons order food by the touch of a button from their seats. On June 1, 2016, the 38-story, 690-unit Marquee at Block 37 opened at 25 West Randolph St., marking the conclusion of construction at Block 37. CIM and its partner in the project, Canadian firm Morguard, attempted to put the building for sale in 2017 at $414 million. After no one offered to buy 25 West Randolph St., the companies refinanced the building in late 2017 with a $225 million mortgage, of which $110 million was used to repay a $110 million loan that funded construction. The developers then placed the building for sale again in 2019 at a cost of $300 million. Morguard bought out CIM's stake in November 2019. Northwestern Mutual provided the $165 million loan for Morguard to buy out CIM's stake. 20070825 108 North State Street.JPG|Viewed from the southeast corner (Washington & State) August 25, 2007 20070412 108 North State Street (1).JPG|Viewed from the northwest corner (Dearborn & Randolph) April 12, 2007 20070412 108 North State Street (3).JPG|Viewed from the southeast corner (Washington & State) April 12, 2007 20070131 108 North State Street.JPG|January 31, 2007

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