Landmark Designation, Tax Incentive Proposed for Near West Side’s Chicago Daily News Building

Landmark Designation, Tax Incentive Proposed for Near West Side's Chicago Daily News Building

The former Chicago Daily News building on the Near West Side would be designated as an official Chicago landmark under a proposal introduced to City Council today by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Located at 2 N. Riverside Plaza, the Art Deco skyscraper was designed by Holabird & Root and completed in 1929 as the home of the Chicago Daily News, helping to establish Chicago as a center for media and architecture. It was the first office building in the city built above railroad tracks and the first to have a public plaza.

The building is undergoing a $69.7 million commercial rehabilitation by 2 N Riverside Owner LLC. In support of the work, a Cook County Class L property tax incentive proposed to City Council today would reduce taxes on the property by $25 million over its 12-year term. Over the period, the building would generate more than $1.8 million in additional taxes than if the rehabilitation work did not occur.

The Class L incentive encourages the preservation and reuse of designated City landmarks.