Prudential Insurance is leaving Prudential Building and taking name with it – WBEZ (Chicago)

The Prudential name has been on the 41-story Loop building since it opened in 1955. The name has also been on the 64-story younger sibling, Prudential Plaza Two or Pru Two, since that building opened in 1990. The departure is momentous. Prudential stuck with its namesake skyscraper long after Sears, Wrigley, the Chicago Tribune, Montgomery Ward, Kemper and other big corporations left their buildings. Prudential is staying in town, however, and leasing space elsewhere.
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JackBolly
2 years ago

Didn’t ‘ManCow’ Muller do something that lacked decorum there? Or do I have my high-rise bldgs confused?

Robert L. Peters
2 years ago
Reply to  JackBolly

His studio was in the building directly north, wasn’t visible from the outside but it was visible in a public area of the building. Would occasionally see scantily clad women in there so he may have done something that lacked decorum.

Veruka Salt
2 years ago

Democrats chase another business that has supported the city for decades out of town. The democrats, destroying everything they possibly can

debtsor
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

They are downsizing to a location about 1/2 it’s current space, so the city’s office market is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic whilst throwing several of the chairs overboard to slow down the rate of descent. They’re also moving clear across the Loop, mere steps away from C&NW Station, likely closer to their mostly suburban employees commuting preference. The gravity of downtown has been moving west for decades now since the trading floors mostly went virtual. I expect in my lifetime to see the east loop area turn into a low-rent shanty town experience, as the mostly foreign… Read more »

Last edited 2 years ago by debtsor
Freddy
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

Mark-Even better. Do you remember the old Olson Rug Co. with the waterfall and Riverview Park? Those were the days.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/visuals/vintage/chi-vintage-riverview-park-amusement-photos-20140917-photogallery.html

taxpayer
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

I do remember visiting the observation deck in the ’60s, but it wasn’t the highest building in town, due to the Board of Trade.

Ataraxis
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

My aunt and uncle took me there! We rode an Illinois Central commuter train from South Chicago. This was when the IC still used old single deck cars with opening windows back in the 1960s.
I’m surprised that the story didn’t include the observation deck name, the Top of the Rock.

Last edited 2 years ago by Ataraxis
Willowglen
2 years ago
Reply to  Ataraxis

My father worked for Price Waterhouse there and I did go to the observation deck.

Old Spartan
2 years ago
Reply to  Ataraxis

When the “Top of the Rock” closed as a result of all the taller buildings that had been built, the manager of the club at the time said “The Top of the Rock has become the Middle of the Heap”.

Veruka Salt
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

Wi remembers the “pickle drop” from the Prudential bldg?

Freddy
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

Mark- Even better. Do you remember the old Olson Rug Co with the waterfall and Riverview Park? Those were the days.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/visuals/vintage/chi-vintage-riverview-park-amusement-photos-20140917-photogallery.html

Yossarian
2 years ago
Reply to  Freddy

Or how about the Magikist lips on south Cicero avenue!

Yossarian
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

I went there on a school bus trip and at that time, it was the tallest building in Chicago

Old Joe
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

I’ve still got my little sunday parfait cup from Ed Debevics from the 80’s!

Freddy
2 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

Remember fishing on Montrose or Foster pier using trolleys with a rope and an anchor you had to spin around above you? There also was a guy fishing there and they called him Popeye since he was fishing for carp and had some special gear to catch the bigger fish and not perch. Plus the guy with the cart with hot dogs/great donuts and orange soda and hot coffee. At night all the lanterns were on attracting lots of bugs but lots of fish were caught. I really miss those days. Not one worry about being robbed or carjacked or… Read more »

Ataraxis
2 years ago
Reply to  Freddy

Yes, did the trolley fishing for perch with my Dad. I still have the bell that was a part of the rig. It would ring when fish pulled on the line.

Freddy
2 years ago
Reply to  Ataraxis

I believe there were 6 hooks and at one time I got 4 fish. When the bell rings an angel gets it’s wings. So 4 angels were happy at one time. LOL
My dad and I bought some fresh minnows and I think crawdads or baby lobsters as I called them for bait. There also was a food stand with glazed donuts/hot dogs with that really good brown mustard-maybe Koops at Montrose beach.

CannonBall
2 years ago
Reply to  Freddy

I never did Montrose but per-lined off the Observatory Point rocks in Evanston in the late 80’s. 50 hooks per fisherman. we had 8 buckets 8 hooks each staggered out 150 yards for spring Coho. When they schooled in, it was pandemonium.

CannonBall
2 years ago
Reply to  CannonBall

*power-lined

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Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.

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