What was the Standard Oil Building has assumed the identity of Aon Center.
The Palmolive Building became the Playboy Building- and then stripped back down to Palmolive once again.
And Sears Roebuck? It's long left for the suburbs, leaving the Sears Tower free of its flagship.
Somehow, all three architectural landmarks have lived on, and the Tribune Tower won't topple either- whether or not the company which employs yours truly enjoys ownership or not.
Tribune chairman Sam Zell wrote Wednesday that he is "asking a number of real estate firms to give us their best thinking on how we can generate more value from the Tribune Tower in Chicago, and the Times Mirror Square complex in Los Angeles."
Many believe that announcement equals auction block, dear readers- and the 950,000 square feet of Neo-Gothic grandeur that's cemented into the Chicago lexicon may be in for a name change.
While Chicago's sentimental are shouting "Shame!," I can tell you many city capitalists are saying "So what?"
"These properties will always maintain the highest value the market can bear- just because of their architectural significance and their location," says Alexander Chaparro, the immediate past president of the Chicago Association of Realtors, regarding those landmarks many equate with the Magnificent Mile.
"When you look at these properties and you look at them painted in our skyline- they become an entity within themselves, beyond what one can call them," Chaparro says.
Don't believe him?
What true White Sox fan do you know still crying in his Coors over Comiskey, choosing to avoid U.S. Cellular Field for this weekend's Crosstown Classic?
Sox fans survived. Correction, they thrived.
