CIM Group plans to redevelop the tower, which means that the Tribune will be vacating the building in 2017 and moving to a new Chicago-based headquarters.
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The iconic tower has been sold for $240 million to CIM Group Acquisitions, LLC. Those sales are also expected to close in the third quarter of 2016. The building was named a city landmark in 1989. They expect the deal to close by the end of September. “Importantly, we’re achieving prices consistent with the $1 billion valuation of our portfolio”. Previously, it sold property in South Florida, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Get free real-time news alerts from the Joliet Patch. It will receive $205 million at the closing, and could collect an additional $35 million if it fulfills what it describes as “certain conditions”.
Both Tribune Media and the Chicago Tribune are likely to move out of their longtime home at 435 N. Michigan Ave.
Tribune Publishing, since renamed Tronc, took ownership of the company’s newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. The Chicago Tribune’s lease at Tribune Tower runs through 2018.
“Tribune Tower is a prominent property with a rich history that has been a feature of the Chicago skyline for almost a century”, CIM co-founder Avi Shemesh said. Additionally, the Company owns and manages a significant number of real estate properties across the USA and holds other strategic investments in media.
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This is the latest of several real estate deals Tribune has made as it struggles to round up cash – and potentially a buyer. Headquartered in Los Angeles, CIM maintains regional offices in NY, the San Francisco Bay Area, Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Area, and Dallas. Tribune Media’s assets include 42 TV stations, national cable channel WGN America and Gracenote, its entertainment metadata business.
