Sam Zell’s Historic Chicago Newspaper Building Has Buyer

A local developer known for reviving landmark properties is set to acquire the historic former home of the Chicago Daily News, marking the first ownership change for the building in about 50 years.

Blue Star Properties has a contract to purchase the 26-story Art Deco tower at 2 North Riverside Plaza, CoStar News reported. The estate of the late billionaire Sam Zell, who died two years ago, is the seller. Zell bought the building in the 1970s and kept his personal office there beginning in 1982.

Blue Star is still conducting due diligence on the property, and the firm declined to disclose the purchase price or any redevelopment plans. The price is expected to fall short of the $65 million loan issued by a Voya Investment Management affiliate in 2016.

The deal is part of the larger unwinding of Zell’s personal real estate portfolio. In January, his estate sold the Cobbler Square Lofts in Old Town for over $86 million.

Zell had long considered redeveloping 2 North Riverside, at times weighing dramatic changes such as tearing down the structure or building a new tower on the expansive riverfront plaza. The 2.4-acre property, bordered by the river and Washington, Madison and Canal streets, is adjacent to the Ogilvie Transportation Center and was 54 percent leased when it hit the market last year.

Built in 1929 just before the Great Depression, the building was the city’s first to be constructed over train tracks using air rights and introduced the now-common pairing of office buildings with public plazas. The Chicago Daily News ceased publication in 1978.

—Rachel Stone