A Chicago building that was designed by Daniel Burnham and served as his office more than a century ago is poised to be sold to a local businessman who recently bought another architectural gem nearby.
A venture led by Marc Calabria has an agreement to buy the 18-story Railway Exchange Building at 224 S. Michigan Ave., according to people familiar with the situation.
The pending deal comes on the heels of Calabria’s $4.2 million purchase of a vacant, William Le Baron Jenney-designed building about two blocks away at 401 S. State St. earlier in October.
Burnham, the architect and city planner associated with his “make no little plans” mantra, kept an office in the building at 224 S. Michigan before he died in 1912.
Those two architects both played major roles in reshaping the city in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and both are credited with architectural and engineering advancements that led to today’s skyscrapers.
It’s not known how much Calabria is paying for the building at 224 S. Michigan, which is about two blocks from the State Street structure that he recently acquired. It’s also not known what Calabria plans to do with the two historic properties.
He did not respond to requests for comment from CoStar News.
The off-market deal on South Michigan Avenue comes after the University of Notre Dame Investment Office handed the property back to its lender, a subsidiary of New York Life Insurance, in January. The transaction was a deed in lieu of foreclosure, a voluntary handover that allows a lender and borrower to avert a lengthy foreclosure suit.
The university owned the property across from Grant Park for nearly two decades, refinancing it with a $47.5 million loan from the New York Life affiliate in 2015, according to Cook County property records.
New York Life did not respond to a request for comment from CoStar News regarding the deal with Calabria.
Calabria, who leads Bloomingdale, Illinois-based IMC Accounting & Tax, also is involved in the planned redevelopment of a portion of the 41-story Clark Adams Building at 105 W. Adams St. in the Loop business district into 400 apartments.
The Railway Exchange Building, completed in 1904, is about 37% vacant, according to CoStar data. Tenants include architecture firms Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Goettsch Partners.
Notre Dame previously used the building for an MBA program within its Medoza College of Business before that program ended in recent years.
Burnham was hired by the Santa Fe Railroad to create office space for multiple railroad companies. The commission came after Burnham designed the “White City” structures for the World’s Columbia Exposition in the late 1800s.
Burnham had views of Lake Michigan from his space at 224 S. Michigan, according to the Chicago Architecture Center. His design features a terra cotta exterior, ornate lobby and soaring glass atrium.