Old post office building back on the block - Post office hopes to strike a deal with runner-up bidders

Old post office building back on the block - Post office hopes to strike a deal with runner-up bidders
By Melissa Harris
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
6:00 p.m. CDT, October 13, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-old-post-office-oct13-,0,6037538.story


The U.S. Postal Service will turn to other bidders from its August auction of the city's old post office in the hopes of finding a buyer for the behemoth building, a spokesman for the government agency said late Tuesday.

Mark Reynolds, the spokesman, said that British developer Bill Davies, who had won the auction with a bid of $40 million, is no longer a potential buyer. Asked whether the postal service would return Davies' $4 million deposit, Reynolds said, "It does not look that way."

Reynolds said the post office hopes to announce a buyer by the end of October.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Davies said, "I'm on the other line. No comment."

The runner-up bidder at the August auction was Nathaniel Hsieh, a Chicago attorney, who said he wanted to use the purchase of the building to help his foreign investors obtain visas through a federal program.

Hsieh said Tuesday that rather than exercise the back-up contract he had on the property, the postal service is mailing a letter to all of the auction participants to solicit new bids.

"It's an outrage," he said. "We're filing a complaint in morning. It's unfair."

The property, located on W. Van Buren Street, straddles the Eisenhower Expressway and has been vacant since 1995. It is between the size of McCormick Place and Willis Tower.

mmharris@tribune.com