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Chicago developer Mike Reschke is poised to buy a mostly empty downtown office tower at 55 West Monroe St. at a staggering 90% discount from its 2014 sale price, reinforcing both the financial carnage in the local office market and his status as a big bettor on the Loop’s post-pandemic recovery. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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Audio and summary Why the Holdup Using Artificial Intelligence to Cut Illinois Government Costs? – Wirepoints
May 19, 2026
10 Comments
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
4 Comments
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer – Chicago’s struggling commercial real estate and more
April 22, 2026
5 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Audio and summary
Dumping Loop commercial properties like this is stunning considering just 10 years ago. Oh the dung heap Pritzker and Democrats have created.
The dolts at Useless Chicago Media Member Crain’s can’t simply report this dreadful story without inserting desperate hopium that Chicago will return as a center of commerce. Illinois leftists have not only shot the golden goose, they ran the poor thing through a woodchipper.
Chicago is dead, outside of government employees and trial lawyers. However, even the sleazebag attorneys are leaving at this point. That leaves the takers as the only ones left pretending to work in Chicago.
ICE should have bought it might fit a whole lot of illegals.
Adjusted for Inflation at 4% for 12 years the number is only 6.25% or $0.0625 on the dollar. The seller got the current market price. He should be glad he found a buyer and they will become harder to find in the future as more and more businesses leave the area for other more tax friendly states.
You can buy one of these buildings for $1, but who in their right mind wants to lease an office in the Loop..
Maybe he can fill the buildings with nail shops and psychic advisors and fried food joints.
It’s like the old joke:
“Did you hear you can buy a house in Detroit for only $1?”
“Great! What’s the catch?”
“You have to live in Detroit.”
If the recovery means the continuing plans to convert downtown Chicago office space into subsidized housing units, I think that would be the opposite of recovery.
Residential property taxes going higher and higher in Cook County!!