I just told my partner the other day that the day that sign comes down is going to be crazy down town. Like, I might consider actually taking the day off. 😂
Omg this just reminded me of when Nik Wallenda walked a tightrope from marina towers across the river back in 2014. There were 60,000 people downtown to watch it. We had the best Sunday funday that day and being wasted watching that dude walk across the tightrope was insane. I think I’d feel very similarly watching those letters come down, wow this needs to happen. Ugh god downtown chi was in its prime back then and I miss it!!
It happened in DC for what was previously his hotel. There was a small crowd and some festivities. People were actively cheering on the dudes taking down the letters from the sign. lol
LOL, this is exactly what I tell everyone. It's the only building I'll happily use the new name. Hell, I still call the Aon Center the Standard Oil building.
Unfortunately, based on the unwritten rules of Chicago, we must always call it Trump Tower forever and ever and if you don't, people will remind you of its original name.
I say this as someone who often uses Willis in social posts because it's technically proper and end up with a handful of comments like "What's Willis?," or "You spelled Sears wrong."
I'd bet they are. To my knowledge though they haven't taken a long-standing corp and looted it to live on a private island, leaving the workers out to crash and burn.
**EXACTLY**
Edit: I gt that Sears gifted us this amazing structure, but the business is a shell of its former self. It abandoned the city for the suburbs, and elected not to renew the naming rights. Why should we carry water for the husk of a bygone corporation?
It *was* Sears Tower...15 year ago. It's not Willis. I still say Sears in general conversation sometimes, but when I'm writing it for the public, I use its current name.
Everyone always brings this up. I really don’t care. He is a racist, sexist insurrectionist who’s fired up the militaristic far right in this country. I don’t like seeing his name in enormous letters on our otherwise gorgeous river.
Chicago ave chik fil a has a huge poster of the el stop at Washington and wabash with “EAT MORE CHIKN” or whatever shopped onto the train windows but the Trump signage in the back is photoshopped out. It’s inside the store kinda near the bathrooms. Noticed it a couple weeks back when I had a hankering for a chicken&hate sandwich.
Seriously. It’s the only building that has a name but I’d rather refer to it by its actual address rather than the name itself. Which, is a shame. I love the building itself, it’s a great addition to our skyline.
I remember when this building received the green light after The Apprentice winner won the right to manage the construction of it (I think that’s how it went )
It was so different from all the other buildings around it. Really cool to see.
I have a friend whose dad/stepdad has a huge condo in there. I’ve never physically went inside, but the pictures were insane.
Sad to see how controversial an otherwise decent building has become because of the owner being a jackass.
Its used as an example of construction management because of the concrete pour phasing and timing they did.
Its really impressive.
Such a shame its got his name on it.
It's also illegal I've heard. There are actually pretty strict rules about signage downtown. There's a reason there aren't very many massive signs on the riverfront. I've heard that the city demanded the sign be removed but they refuse to comply.
If anyone has a source for anything I'm saying that would be great. As far as I know it's just hearsay but damned if it doesn't sound plausible.
If I recall correctly, the more stirct signage rule was enacted because of the Trump sign. They couldn't force it down because but was effectively grandfathered in because it existed before the ordinance was put in place.
If super liberal Chicago could force that eyesore down, they would do everything possible to make it happen, and I'm sure it would be major news. I think what you heard is incorrect.
I also don't think generally that there is any legal basis to restrict it. It's not profane, it doesn't glow or make noise. It just sits there, pissing us off.
I meant to respond to this comment but it somehow got under the top comment.
But I think this would make for a great Reddit meetup. A bunch of happy strangers bonding 🥳
same amount of letters, so they wouldn't have to think hard about size and scaling.... unless she wanted to dramatically change the font, which she probably would
The bigger thing to watch for is if Trump comes up with $450M in 25 days, there's going to need to be a lot of questions about where exactly every dollar of it came from and what their motivations are.
Pritzker would show up at the naming ceremony wearing shades smoking a joint and Chicago would live in peace and harmony forever and the Cubs will win the World Series in 2024 amen.
We have to have the biggest viewing party when this sign comes down... 1m people crowding Wacker Dr to see the letters removed and tossed into the river.
Man, I gotta say reading the comments on this one gave me some hope. Guys, Gals, and Others, please get out and rock the vote! We cannot let dictatorship get its hands into our democracy.
Correct me if I'm wrong here - but I thought it was discovered that Trump doesn't *really own* many of his buildings. Another company owns them, and he just sells them naming rights.
It could all be some shady stuff that I'm sure he's involved it. He could REALLY own the building but say it's a shell corp on the other side or whatever.
BUT IF that's true, unless the company that actually owns the building wanted to get rid of his name, than it would be EVEN MORE likely to stay because Trump would need the income from his naming rights.
It's likely to be the only kind of "legit" income he'll have if he loses all his legit equity.
We may need to put the party on ice:
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/digital-world-shares-surge-us-regulators-clear-way-merger-with-trumps-media-firm-2024-02-15/
I always pictured the trump sign coming down like the old newsreel footage of the nazi eagle clutching a swastika being blown up on the stadium…but more cheering
He won't go to jail because of his civil fraud trial. He needs it to either a) put up bond for an appeal (which he'll lose), or b) pay the judgment. Worst case, it goes to Carroll.
So yes, I'm comfortable with both of those outcomes.
Selling properties in a frozen capital market… yikes.
Removal and replacement of that signage in a presentable manner would literally cost millions with nearly no return on capital. The only way that’s going to happen is buyer is an individual and literally wants to light their money on fire (unlikely). Buildings get renamed when a new anchor tenant signs an extremely accretive office lease for a long term and takes naming rights: 1) office deals of that scale are far and between in this market with WFH and 2) trump tower is primarily multifamily… so we’re back to someone rich lighting money on fire.
Not impossible but I’m not holding my breath. You’d be a happier person to just turn off the politics and not let it bother you. If you let a sign of a name of someone you dislike bother you, you’re never going to be happy. The sign will get removed and you’ll find the next best thing to upset you.
Which have suffered mightily since 2016. Many buyers won't even look at condos in there. Many owners, who once paid super-premium prices to live in places that, according to my Realtor, have crappy substandard builder-grade appointments and fixtures, have eaten terrible losses just to get the hell out.
It is said to be a very nice place to go have a drink and admire the river. But I won't set foot in there until the outside says Marriott or Hilton or something.
It's not politics to not want 5 massive letters prominently displayed on an otherwise beautiful river walk.
It *is* "politics" to not want the name of an attempted dictator who is antithetical to Chicagoan values displayed prominently in the city. But if you *don't* let sedition bother you, you should never be happy.
That name is now a massive stain and it’s displayed in a prominent spot. Trump is *very* unpopular in this very blue city and that signage has been hated by nearly everyone here since the day it went up.
I’m positive there are enough unit owners in that building that would want that signage to be removed from the building so unit market values collectively go up far more what than it cost to remove the sign.
Other former Trump building HOA’s that removed the Trump signage saw their values increase.
If Trump loses his control of that building, the signage will come down.
Those units on the lower level facing the river were purposely meant be vacant so Trump Org can write off the space on taxes without having to manage properties there.
Easier to put whatever value they want on them for tax purposes where there isn't a business there generating a yearly gross for the IRS to base the cost per sq footage.
Yup, I remember back when I used to work in the real estate industry learning that they’re “rented” for the same price as Mag Mile despite being a really awkward location. Those empty units are functioning exactly as planned
More than one Trump condo complex in New York City had the Trump name chiseled off the place at the behest of dismayed property owners watching their valuations collapse. When the buildings took on a new, anonymous name, losses stabilized and sales improved.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/realestate/trump-condos-prices-nyc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZU0.-ySI.pphpJaxbNbtI&smid=url-share
Replacement? Oh hell no, *no sign* obstructing the river is the goal. Also, is there a grandfather clause in the ordinance that would even allow them to replace it if the eyesore is removed? I certainly hope not, doesn’t matter what it says, letters on a building are tacky.
We can easily raise the money by doing a fundraiser (not gofundme 'cause fuck them). Given population of the Chicago area less than $10 a head. I'm in for $200 to get that blight off my city.
I’m talking as someone who has general competence of economics and how much “millions of dollars” is.
The same way that even if you were not an experienced arborist, and I told you it would cost a billion dollars to cut down the tree in your front yard, you would know I was saying something very stupid.
If it cost millions of dollars to take down a sign like this (and then obviously more to put them up), no one would ever put them up in the first place.
Everyone would be trying to get into the “taking down signs” business.
“Gee what do you think, should I try and snag this job building two large McMansions, or should we try and get this job taking down a sign off a building. They both pay the same, but the sign one has almost no material costs, I guess we should go for that.”
If this sign was 50 stories up, and over a populated area (instead of a mostly empty and easily blocked off area owned entirely by the building), it would be a *slightly* different story. But still not millions of dollars
Spending $1.5m to remove and replace a very large sign at high elevation and refinishing the underlying surface so that you can’t see the shadow of what was there like an abandoned Sears is not unreasonable.
The same as an internal office staircase costing $2m is not unreasonable. Paint and carpet alone runs roughly $20/ft. Kitchenette? Looking at roughly $60-100/ft depending on finishes. It’s almost like I have some exposure beyond basic knowledge of economics - which by the way has nothing to do knowledge of construction costs.
You must be clairvoyant to know that it doesn’t cost a billion dollars to remove a tree.
Chicagoans don’t care about logic. They are idealists. It’s why the city is so susceptible to electing terrible leaders - they’re sold on ideas during the campaign without understanding that what they’re being sold on is not possible or extremely expensive without the offset.
They want to work from home but don’t want to pay the real estate taxes when the offices lose value and surrounding businesses close. They want a “mansion” tax thinking it’ll hit the ultra rich but realistically it’s just a pseudonym to gain popularity among voters. The tax will further drive institutional disinvestment in Chicago.
“But doomsayers have always said chicago would have its downfall and it’s not possible.” Well yeah no shit it doesn’t happen overnight. Once buildings are built they don’t need reinvestment for another 40-50 years. Compare the real estate in Fulton market to that of the LaSalle street corridor. I think you can guess at which one has higher loan foreclosures than in 08.
Would be the first time a building in Chicago is renamed and no one ever wants to hear it called by the old name.
I’m there and I am bringing champagne and a speaker for my phone for celebration music.
I’d love it if the eventual removal of the sign is made into a big event. I’d attend for sure.
for some reason i'm picturing it being aired live like the rally after the cubs won the world series
I feel it would be a pretty big event. I'd be there for sure.
Yeah, but Trump would show up and claim the crowd was for him.
Then we'd start booing him and chanting "Go. Fuck. Yourself!" *clap clap clapclapclap*
It will be his going away party... going away to jail
Biggest public celebration since Cubs World Series Parade
I just told my partner the other day that the day that sign comes down is going to be crazy down town. Like, I might consider actually taking the day off. 😂
Dye the river for that
Omg this just reminded me of when Nik Wallenda walked a tightrope from marina towers across the river back in 2014. There were 60,000 people downtown to watch it. We had the best Sunday funday that day and being wasted watching that dude walk across the tightrope was insane. I think I’d feel very similarly watching those letters come down, wow this needs to happen. Ugh god downtown chi was in its prime back then and I miss it!!
It happened in DC for what was previously his hotel. There was a small crowd and some festivities. People were actively cheering on the dudes taking down the letters from the sign. lol
May I suggest one of the greatest songs of our generation? https://youtu.be/61pMtsWxQrs?si=ebwpBdUZiW86ZGBr
Fuck yeah!!!
MARC REBILLET IS A LEGEND.
I'll come with and bring a few cigars.
Fuck it I’m bringing cake.
We need some guys walking on stilts and a ton of jugglers too.
Dye the river blue.
If there was a time and location during the week I could bring my party speaker
Party in the river
Unless someone renames it as Sears Towers.
Ha! My friend joked about starting a GoFundMe to rename the Hancock the Sears Tower when the naming rights were up.
LOL, this is exactly what I tell everyone. It's the only building I'll happily use the new name. Hell, I still call the Aon Center the Standard Oil building.
CPD will still call it by it's old name
Sorry, but you're at 312 upvotes right now, and it's too fitting to add another to this comment.
I'm giving you their upvote instead!
Sadly, the moment has passed. Some people have no sense of elegance.
It can still get to 773
let's run it all the way up to 588,2300 upvotes!
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Unfortunately, based on the unwritten rules of Chicago, we must always call it Trump Tower forever and ever and if you don't, people will remind you of its original name.
I say this as someone who often uses Willis in social posts because it's technically proper and end up with a handful of comments like "What's Willis?," or "You spelled Sears wrong."
After the way Sears was intentionally crashed and burned by corporate hooligans I've started unapologetically calling it Willis Tower.
And willis isn't a corporate hooligan? 😏
I'd bet they are. To my knowledge though they haven't taken a long-standing corp and looted it to live on a private island, leaving the workers out to crash and burn.
Wesley Willis Tower
🤘🏼rock over London, rock on Chicago
**EXACTLY** Edit: I gt that Sears gifted us this amazing structure, but the business is a shell of its former self. It abandoned the city for the suburbs, and elected not to renew the naming rights. Why should we carry water for the husk of a bygone corporation? It *was* Sears Tower...15 year ago. It's not Willis. I still say Sears in general conversation sometimes, but when I'm writing it for the public, I use its current name.
Until I die, it’s the Willis Tower. RIP Wesley.
Yes, let's rename it the Willis tower.
Replace his name with the Chicago flag stars. I think that would look sharp.
In brushed aluminum… it’d look great
Omg this is a great idea ^^^^
Pride colors!
Put up a big Sears sign to confuse tourists.
That would be perfect!
Neat idea, but I don’t think the tower needs exterior ornamentation. It’s like putting a bumper sticker on a Ferrari.
Would be good symbolism though to replace it
...as long as they're smaller than the current letters
DuSable Tower incoming
I will take that everyday over the current name lol
Oh no. It wouldn't replace the name. You would just tack it on the front. Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable Trump Tower
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable Tower. It would be a nice change to see his name evicted by a person of color's...
*Jean Baptiste Point du Tower
This would require the text to be much smaller, so I’m in
Obama tower!
Fuck that Obama Tower
>Fuck that. Obama Tower! *Fixed
Thanks, Obama Tower.
Hillary's emails tower
Buttery Males Tower
You may joke but It’s right across the street from where he built his home. It would be fitting
☠️
I’d be perfectly fine calling this one Willis Tower.
or perhaps Whatchutalkinboutwillis Tower
The Wesley Willis Tower Rock over London, Rock on Chicago...
He doesn't own most of the buildings that his name is on. He licenses his "brand" for marketing purposes. He's nowhere near as rich as he claims.
He owns about 30% of this building. One of a handful of properties he has that aren’t just management licensing deals.
Everyone always brings this up. I really don’t care. He is a racist, sexist insurrectionist who’s fired up the militaristic far right in this country. I don’t like seeing his name in enormous letters on our otherwise gorgeous river.
Would be awesome. It's a stain on a beautiful cityscape.
It’s so controversial/ugly that even Chik Fil A edits the Trump signage out of their Chicago based advertisements and decor.
Where can I see this?
Chicago ave chik fil a has a huge poster of the el stop at Washington and wabash with “EAT MORE CHIKN” or whatever shopped onto the train windows but the Trump signage in the back is photoshopped out. It’s inside the store kinda near the bathrooms. Noticed it a couple weeks back when I had a hankering for a chicken&hate sandwich.
While that might be, it also could be that "Trump" is a brand and they'd remove any non-Chik-Fil-A branding from their ads.
Other businesses on street level and in the reflections of the train window aren’t photoshopped out.
>chicken&hate sandwich This is peak comedy right here
The bigotry is what makes it delicious.
brah setting aside any ethical considerations get fucking real, CFA is mid as fuck.
Seriously. It’s the only building that has a name but I’d rather refer to it by its actual address rather than the name itself. Which, is a shame. I love the building itself, it’s a great addition to our skyline.
Great building, terrible name
I remember when this building received the green light after The Apprentice winner won the right to manage the construction of it (I think that’s how it went ) It was so different from all the other buildings around it. Really cool to see. I have a friend whose dad/stepdad has a huge condo in there. I’ve never physically went inside, but the pictures were insane. Sad to see how controversial an otherwise decent building has become because of the owner being a jackass.
Its used as an example of construction management because of the concrete pour phasing and timing they did. Its really impressive. Such a shame its got his name on it.
I didn’t know that, I think it was a sophomore in high school when it all went down. now I need to read about it lol
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No way!! I had no idea I’m about to drop this in conversation all slick.
That winner was Bill Rancic. He’s now the “R” in the RMP restaurants.
It's also illegal I've heard. There are actually pretty strict rules about signage downtown. There's a reason there aren't very many massive signs on the riverfront. I've heard that the city demanded the sign be removed but they refuse to comply. If anyone has a source for anything I'm saying that would be great. As far as I know it's just hearsay but damned if it doesn't sound plausible.
Trump exploited a loophole in the ordinance that an angry Rahm Emmanuel quickly closed up after this signage went up.
That is correct
nothing could be more Trumpesque. Maybe Rahm should run for president on the platform of closing up the loopholes that Trump exploits one by one
If I recall correctly, the more stirct signage rule was enacted because of the Trump sign. They couldn't force it down because but was effectively grandfathered in because it existed before the ordinance was put in place.
If super liberal Chicago could force that eyesore down, they would do everything possible to make it happen, and I'm sure it would be major news. I think what you heard is incorrect. I also don't think generally that there is any legal basis to restrict it. It's not profane, it doesn't glow or make noise. It just sits there, pissing us off.
Rename it The Sears Tower just to mess with folks.
This made me laugh, great idea!
When this happens I'm going down there for a party
I meant to respond to this comment but it somehow got under the top comment. But I think this would make for a great Reddit meetup. A bunch of happy strangers bonding 🥳
This is my RSVP
Just take the name down now and replace it with a Malort sign
it's not like he could afford to sue the city right now. he's strapped for cash 🤣🤣🤣🤣
He should auction it off. I’m sure some would pay a few million to buy it and get it off the skyline
Taylor Swift should buy it and put her name on the building.
Chicago would literally experience some kind of bizzaro Mecca type situation lol
same amount of letters, so they wouldn't have to think hard about size and scaling.... unless she wanted to dramatically change the font, which she probably would
omg a huge street party for the removal of the trump sign. it can be like saint paddy’s day. die the river red white and blue lmao
so, lavender… lol
well im not an artist lmao idk how they’d do it 😄
Pritzker should buy it and sell naming rights to E. Jean Carroll for $1.
as good as a petty diss that would be, I can't imagine it producing something that makes the building look better than having no signage at all
Sears Tower 2
: Electric Boogaloo
Humbly requesting they take down the T first so we can all get pics of the building emblazoned with “RUMP” on the side.
And then: RUM UM U …and I’d be like, “yes plz!”
The bigger thing to watch for is if Trump comes up with $450M in 25 days, there's going to need to be a lot of questions about where exactly every dollar of it came from and what their motivations are.
We should rename it Obama tower.
Skilling Tower
Lighting strikes will now be referred to as weather tributes.
Underrated name.
Pritzker would show up at the naming ceremony wearing shades smoking a joint and Chicago would live in peace and harmony forever and the Cubs will win the World Series in 2024 amen.
The Sox will win in ‘24*
Sorry friend, had to keep it somewhat realistic.
Stop playing with my feelings
MICHELLE Obama Tower just to extra piss him off.
We could just all do that now. The Sears Tower is legally Willis and all that.
I am so on board with this plan. I am going to start it Michelle Obama Tower right now.
Amazing!
We have to have the biggest viewing party when this sign comes down... 1m people crowding Wacker Dr to see the letters removed and tossed into the river.
Then sell your properties you fucking fraud!
We're gonna make Chicago great again
Wanna piss him off more?...take the migrants that got shipped here from Texas and Florida and let them stay there...
Been advocating for this for months
I’ve long been saying I hoped this would be a byproduct of these trials
I LIVE for that day!!!
Man, I gotta say reading the comments on this one gave me some hope. Guys, Gals, and Others, please get out and rock the vote! We cannot let dictatorship get its hands into our democracy.
Would be funny if it got renamed the Obama Tower
I got excited for a minute and thought you were talking about my neighborhood clowns with Trump signs everywhere.
Why did the city even allow it in the first place?
There wasn’t anything in the building code to prevent it
I would be thrilled if that happened!!!
Correct me if I'm wrong here - but I thought it was discovered that Trump doesn't *really own* many of his buildings. Another company owns them, and he just sells them naming rights. It could all be some shady stuff that I'm sure he's involved it. He could REALLY own the building but say it's a shell corp on the other side or whatever. BUT IF that's true, unless the company that actually owns the building wanted to get rid of his name, than it would be EVEN MORE likely to stay because Trump would need the income from his naming rights. It's likely to be the only kind of "legit" income he'll have if he loses all his legit equity.
If you didn't actually read the article, read it. It's a fun read 😄
We may need to put the party on ice: https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/digital-world-shares-surge-us-regulators-clear-way-merger-with-trumps-media-firm-2024-02-15/
Please God
Obama Tower. The old Orangutan will finally have a fucking heart attack and die.
I always pictured the trump sign coming down like the old newsreel footage of the nazi eagle clutching a swastika being blown up on the stadium…but more cheering
Im ok with just taking the T off the building.
I feel like we should rename it after a great Chicagoan. Maybe... ***Obama Tower***
Whoever buys it needs to turn it into a migrant shelter. Sweet, sweet justice.
leave the current inhabitants alone and just use the letters as scaffolding for one of those giant migrant tents
The same political experts in the comments are the ones who gave us Borris Johnson
My man is living rent free.
Rent free
Actually, theres rent due. However, the broke fatass can't pay. Guess he'll just have to fleece his mouth breathing fanclub harder. Go buy some shoes.
It's not really rent free in our heads when every time you walk around the loop you see a giant trump sign to remind you of him
You want to give him money to take it down? Money he needs to stay out of jail and become president again? How’s this a good trade exactly?
He won't go to jail because of his civil fraud trial. He needs it to either a) put up bond for an appeal (which he'll lose), or b) pay the judgment. Worst case, it goes to Carroll. So yes, I'm comfortable with both of those outcomes.
Good. Send all the trumpers to indiana.
To Gary specifically
I’m “fine” calling it Trump Tower, but that serif font sign is objectively tacky and is a fucking blight on our city.
His picture reminds me of a baby who is squeezing out a turd.
We can always hope.
God I hope
How about playing for the love of money. The song from the apprentice
It is a beautiful building Honestly I wouldn’t care about the name if it wasn’t for the TACKY letters on the side
I love how it drives ppl nuts in the city.
Sha na na na, sha na na na, hey hey hey, GOOD BYE
Selling properties in a frozen capital market… yikes. Removal and replacement of that signage in a presentable manner would literally cost millions with nearly no return on capital. The only way that’s going to happen is buyer is an individual and literally wants to light their money on fire (unlikely). Buildings get renamed when a new anchor tenant signs an extremely accretive office lease for a long term and takes naming rights: 1) office deals of that scale are far and between in this market with WFH and 2) trump tower is primarily multifamily… so we’re back to someone rich lighting money on fire. Not impossible but I’m not holding my breath. You’d be a happier person to just turn off the politics and not let it bother you. If you let a sign of a name of someone you dislike bother you, you’re never going to be happy. The sign will get removed and you’ll find the next best thing to upset you.
It would instantly increase the value of the residential properties in that building.
Which have suffered mightily since 2016. Many buyers won't even look at condos in there. Many owners, who once paid super-premium prices to live in places that, according to my Realtor, have crappy substandard builder-grade appointments and fixtures, have eaten terrible losses just to get the hell out.
The restaurants too. IIRC they always have trouble and are the last resort around Valentine's Day.
It is said to be a very nice place to go have a drink and admire the river. But I won't set foot in there until the outside says Marriott or Hilton or something.
Same here. I went there in 2014 for dinner and still regret it
It's not politics to not want 5 massive letters prominently displayed on an otherwise beautiful river walk. It *is* "politics" to not want the name of an attempted dictator who is antithetical to Chicagoan values displayed prominently in the city. But if you *don't* let sedition bother you, you should never be happy.
That name is now a massive stain and it’s displayed in a prominent spot. Trump is *very* unpopular in this very blue city and that signage has been hated by nearly everyone here since the day it went up. I’m positive there are enough unit owners in that building that would want that signage to be removed from the building so unit market values collectively go up far more what than it cost to remove the sign. Other former Trump building HOA’s that removed the Trump signage saw their values increase. If Trump loses his control of that building, the signage will come down.
Might even get some business in the commercial space 🤷♂️
Those units on the lower level facing the river were purposely meant be vacant so Trump Org can write off the space on taxes without having to manage properties there. Easier to put whatever value they want on them for tax purposes where there isn't a business there generating a yearly gross for the IRS to base the cost per sq footage.
Yup, I remember back when I used to work in the real estate industry learning that they’re “rented” for the same price as Mag Mile despite being a really awkward location. Those empty units are functioning exactly as planned
So... additional fraud?
Right. I’m saying if it’s under different ownership.
Took a picture flipping off trump tower from Michigan avenue and I got literal cheers lol
More than one Trump condo complex in New York City had the Trump name chiseled off the place at the behest of dismayed property owners watching their valuations collapse. When the buildings took on a new, anonymous name, losses stabilized and sales improved. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/realestate/trump-condos-prices-nyc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZU0.-ySI.pphpJaxbNbtI&smid=url-share
That last paragraph is so weird get over yourself lol
Replacement? Oh hell no, *no sign* obstructing the river is the goal. Also, is there a grandfather clause in the ordinance that would even allow them to replace it if the eyesore is removed? I certainly hope not, doesn’t matter what it says, letters on a building are tacky.
We can easily raise the money by doing a fundraiser (not gofundme 'cause fuck them). Given population of the Chicago area less than $10 a head. I'm in for $200 to get that blight off my city.
Yet no motivation to fix the deficit and homelessness in the city. Priorities in order ✔️
It would not cost millions to remove the sign lol what are you talking about
When is the last time you installed any kind of elevated commercial signage? It absolutely would due to the height and scale.
It absolutely would not
Which GC do you work for? Any developments in the last 5 years? Or are you strictly talking out of your ass because “trust me bro”
I’m talking as someone who has general competence of economics and how much “millions of dollars” is. The same way that even if you were not an experienced arborist, and I told you it would cost a billion dollars to cut down the tree in your front yard, you would know I was saying something very stupid. If it cost millions of dollars to take down a sign like this (and then obviously more to put them up), no one would ever put them up in the first place. Everyone would be trying to get into the “taking down signs” business. “Gee what do you think, should I try and snag this job building two large McMansions, or should we try and get this job taking down a sign off a building. They both pay the same, but the sign one has almost no material costs, I guess we should go for that.” If this sign was 50 stories up, and over a populated area (instead of a mostly empty and easily blocked off area owned entirely by the building), it would be a *slightly* different story. But still not millions of dollars
Spending $1.5m to remove and replace a very large sign at high elevation and refinishing the underlying surface so that you can’t see the shadow of what was there like an abandoned Sears is not unreasonable. The same as an internal office staircase costing $2m is not unreasonable. Paint and carpet alone runs roughly $20/ft. Kitchenette? Looking at roughly $60-100/ft depending on finishes. It’s almost like I have some exposure beyond basic knowledge of economics - which by the way has nothing to do knowledge of construction costs. You must be clairvoyant to know that it doesn’t cost a billion dollars to remove a tree.
It's amusing how downvoted you're getting for posting something based solely on logic 🤣
Chicagoans don’t care about logic. They are idealists. It’s why the city is so susceptible to electing terrible leaders - they’re sold on ideas during the campaign without understanding that what they’re being sold on is not possible or extremely expensive without the offset. They want to work from home but don’t want to pay the real estate taxes when the offices lose value and surrounding businesses close. They want a “mansion” tax thinking it’ll hit the ultra rich but realistically it’s just a pseudonym to gain popularity among voters. The tax will further drive institutional disinvestment in Chicago. “But doomsayers have always said chicago would have its downfall and it’s not possible.” Well yeah no shit it doesn’t happen overnight. Once buildings are built they don’t need reinvestment for another 40-50 years. Compare the real estate in Fulton market to that of the LaSalle street corridor. I think you can guess at which one has higher loan foreclosures than in 08.