The old Chicago post office is going on the auction block August 27th. It was built in 1921 and has been vacant since 1995. The postal service no longer wants to pay the two million dollars it cost to maintain the empty 3 million square foot facility every year.
The lobby is still stunning, but the other eight floors-- talk about a fixer upper! Batman fans may remember the building in "The Dark Knight". It served as Gotham National Bank and the Gotham police station. I met a guy named George Kopes who knows EVERYTHING about the old post office. He's the building manager and told me stories from the Batman set. Kopes says his job was to be Christian Bale's "refrigerator man"-- the guy who had to cool Bale down when he got too hot in the Batsuit. Kopes also told me Heath Ledger was an absolute joy to work with everyday.
The auction is at the InterContinental Hotel in Rosemont. The suggested opening bid is 300-thousand dollars. Potential buyers can go on a tour July 20th and 29th. August dates are the 6th, 12th, and 20th.
