After over 170 years of having its headquarters in downtown Chicago, the city's oldest and largest newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, once a conservative firebrand but now, with a few exceptions like John Kass, part of the liberal echo chamber, is moving. True, it's not that far away, to the River West area south of Goose Island, but it's a warehousey section of the city, away from the remaining glamor of the city center.
For nearly 100 years the Trib was based in the Tribune Tower on North Michigan Avenue--eighteen months ago it moved a few blocks south to Prudential Plaza.
"The Tribune’s departure adds to the expanding number of vacancies plaguing the city’s downtown office market," the Real Deal explains. "Companies have been subleasing their space — or trying to — trimming or exiting their leases at a steady clip. Office vacancy rate climbed to 14.2 percent in the central business district in the fourth quarter."Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure some folks will blame it all on COVID-19, but the riots and looting of 2020, which I believe led to the Gap leaving North Michgan Avenue and Macy's moving out of Water Tower Place, has left a bad taste in many money people's mouths.
As for the Trib, its new home, an isolated building that houses the paper's printing facility, is a perfect place for the newspaper to contract its collective closed mind.
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