Tribune Media is planning to sell the historic Tribune Tower for $100 million. On Thursday, Tribune Real Estate announced that they hired real estate investment banker Eastdil Secured to explore more outright sale or partnership opportunities that aim to redevelop the Michigan Avenue landmark.
As Tribune Media made the sale announcement on Oct. 8, talks have been heating up regarding who are interested to buy the historic tower and how much they are willing to pay since rumors have it that the sale price may exceed $100 million.
However, The Market Business noted that whatever the price is, the Tribune Tower would serve a totally different purpose that its current and original one.
Tribune Real Estate president Murray McQueen also reportedly said that they are expecting a high level of interest from a broad range of private and institutional investors and developers. In fact, Oxford Capital is one of the many companies interested in buying the Tribune Tower for redevelopment purposes.
"Retail and residential are very compelling uses because those are arguably the most valuable, given that location," opined Oxford Capital president and CEO John Rutledge told Chicago Tribune. "But hotel and/or office may have merit, too. It's the kind of project that we like, the scale of it, the complexity of it, the multi-dimensionality of it, and it happens to be right up our alley."
The 36-story building, which houses the Chicago Tribune, was built in 1925 and named a Chicago landmark in 1989. And with the sale of the tower looms, the Tribune would need to find a new home soon.
Aside from Oxford Capital, Chicago developer Murphy Capital Management also said that there will be great interest in the tower.
"It's more likely a local developer play that may have joint ventures with a large institutional capital source because it's going to require a significant amount of equity to get the deal done," Murphy Capital Management CEO and chairman John Murphy said.
Meanwhile, Tribune Media is currently focusing on the television and digital properties in its portfolio. According to NYSE Post, they recently expanded their publishing division, which now include the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, and numerous other publications.
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