One Prudential Plaza
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

One Prudential Plaza (formerly known as the Prudential Building) is a 41-story structure in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
completed in 1955 as the headquarters for Prudential's Mid-America company. It was the first skyscraper built in Chicago since the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War. The plaza, including a second building erected in 1990, is owned by BentleyForbes and a consortium of New York investors, since the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
of the early 21st century.


History of construction

The structure was significant as the first new downtown
skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
constructed in Chicago since the
Field Building The Field Building, also known as the LaSalle National Bank Building and Bank of America Building is an art deco office building at 135 South LaSalle Street in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. The building was d ...
, 21 years earlier and was built on
air rights Air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by others. This legal ...
over the
Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...
. It was the last building ever connected to the
Chicago Tunnel Company The Chicago Tunnel Company was the builder and operator of a narrow-gauge railway freight tunnel network under downtown Chicago, Illinois. This was regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission as an interurban even though it operated entire ...
's tunnel network. When the Prudential was finished it had the highest roof in Chicago with only the statue of
Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
on the Chicago Board of Trade higher. Its mast served as a broadcasting antenna for Chicago's WGN-TV. The architect was Naess & Murphy, a precursor to C.F. Murphy & Associates and later Murphy/Jahn Architects.


Recent purchase

In May 2006, BentleyForbes, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm, run by
Frederick Wehba Frederick Wehba (born February 23, 1947) is an American real-estate investor and founder of the firm BentleyForbes. Personal life Wehba was born and raised in Texas. He describes his childhood that he spent working in his father's grocery sto ...
and his family purchased One Prudential Plaza, along with its sister property,
Two Prudential Plaza The Two Prudential Plaza is a 64-story skyscraper located in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. At tall, it is currently the sixth-tallest building in Chicago and the 28th-tallest in the U.S., being only five feet from 1,000 feet, making it ...
for $470 million. After a default on the mortgage encumbering the towers during the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
of the early 21st century, New York-based investors 601W Companies and Berkley Properties, represented by New York law firm Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP took control of the towers after investing more than $100 million in equity to recapitalize. BentleyForbes, the prior controlling owner of the towers, continues to have an interest in the owning partnership.


Tenants

*
Hillrom Corporate Headquarters Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., doing business as Hillrom, is an American medical technology provider that is a subsidiary of Baxter International. History Hillrom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Baxter and was formally part of Hill-Rom Holdings, In ...
*
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
*Studio 1847
Society of Women Engineers — Global Headquarters, 35th Floor
ref name=press>

American Institute of Steel Construction
ref name=about> * Wilson Sporting Goods * Marketing Werks * Cision * Conversion Alliance * No Limit Agency *
Chicago Federation of Labor The Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) is an umbrella organization for unions in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is a subordinate body of the AFL–CIO, and as of 2011 has about 320 affiliated member unions representing half a million union members in C ...
* McGraw Hill (Education And Test Prep Editorial) * Vanderbilt Office Properties * Envisionit Agency * S&P Global Ratings * Bowman, Barrett & Associates Inc. * OppLoans * Hubbard Chicago * Custom Crafters * Painters District Council 14 * Optiver


See also

*
List of buildings and structures This is a list of lists of buildings and nonbuilding structures. By type * List of abbeys and priories * List of amphitheatres (contemporary) * List of amphitheatres (Roman) * List of ancient Greek theatres * List of ancient pyramids **Lis ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Chicago A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
List of tallest buildings in the United States The world's first skyscraper was built in Chicago in 1885. Since then, the United States has been home to some of the world's tallest skyscrapers. New York City, specifically the borough of Manhattan, notably has the tallest skyline in the cou ...
*
List of tallest buildings in the world This list of tallest buildings includes skyscrapers with continuously occupiable floors and a height of at least . Non-building structures, such as towers, are not included in this list (for these, see '' List of tallest buildings and structu ...
*
World's tallest structures The world's tallest human-made structure is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (of the United Arab Emirates). The building gained the official title of "tallest building in the world" and the tallest self-supported structure at its opening on January ...


Position in Chicago's skyline


References


External links


The Real Deal
*
Emporis entry for One Prudential PlazaOlshan Frome Wolosky LLP
{{Authority control Office buildings completed in 1955 Prudential Financial buildings Skyscraper office buildings in Chicago Insurance company headquarters in the United States 1955 establishments in Illinois