The Sad Sale of the Thompson Center

Monday was a sad, but all-too-predictable, day in Illinois: The state officially announced the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago is for sale.  The building was designed by Helmut Jahn, and it opened in 1985.  While the building had issues when it opened, they were resolved.  The building is a gem of post-modern design, and it could have been a destination in downtown Chicago for architecture buffs and regular people – if it had not been owned by the State of Illinois. 

Instead of a go-to place in the center of Chicago, the Thompson Center has, under the State of Illinois, become a bit of a dump.  But it didn’t have to happen.  It isn’t the fault of the building or the design. 

A decade after he designed the Thompson Center, Helmut Jahn designed the Sony Center in Berlin, which is based on ideas he used in the Thompson Center.  But Berlin knew how to use the building and highlight its charms.  The State of Illinois didn’t.  Helmut Jahn has even come up with ideas to update and rejuvenate the Thompson Center.  But would the state even try it?  Of course, not.

All the state sees is a couple hundred million dollars from a developer who will put up some new skyscraper on the site.  Chicago doesn’t need yet another skyscraper, and the state will just waste the money like it does everything else.

The main lesson to be learned from the sale of the Thompson Center is that the State of Illinois is incompetent.  They had a building that could have been something special, and they wasted it.  With vision, it could have been like the Bean or Navy Pier.  Instead, it will be torn down for no good reason other than to serve as yet another example of the ineptitude of Illinois government and so-called leaders of this state who have no vision beyond the next election – and the next campaign contribution.