“The landmark Pittsfield Building can’t catch a break.

“When completed in 1927, the 38-story East Loop high-rise stood as the tallest on the Chicago skyline, a proud tower designed in a hybrid Gothic and art deco style that one trade journal called “another great edifice of decided distinction.”

“The building is a basket case today, in need of a major makeover and the victim of a series of setbacks, including aborted deals to buy the building, multiple lawsuits.

“It’s another unfortunate twist in the saga of the Pittsfield, which opened as an office tower—and became home to many jewelers—but has been crying for a residential or hotel conversion for years. A developer turned some of its space into student housing about a decade ago—and floors 10 through 12 have been converted into 51 regular apartments—but the building, which is less than a block from Millennium Park, needs another developer to spend the tens of millions of dollars required to finish a revamp of the antiquated but architecturally significant space.

“‘Obviously, it’s a gem in an outstanding location,’ says developer John Murphy, chairman and CEO of Chicago-based Murphy Asset Management. ‘It just needs a little repolishing.’ (Gallun, Crain’s Chicago Business, 8/3/2018)

“In the latest turn in one of the years-long legal fights over the Pittsfield Building, a U.S. district judge has issued a ruling allowing a lawsuit involving a scuttled plan to convert part of the property into a hotel to go to trial.

“The ruling is the newest development in the saga of the East Loop landmark, where various interests have been caught up in a series of different legal dramas over the years.

“It deals with a 2017 lawsuit from affiliates of Miami-based developer Morgan Reed Group, the onetime owner of most of the vintage tower at 55 E. Washington Street, that alleges the city of Chicago had illegally “downzoned” the property the previous year to prohibit any of its space from being turned into a hotel, amounting to an illegal takings under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, seeks damages from the city exceeding $70 million. A ruling from U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras earlier this month states that the investor’s and the city’s arguments raise a dispute of fact over the rezoning’s impact on the property’s value, and that the case will go to trial unless the parties can reach a settlement. A status hearing is scheduled for Feb. 4.” (Herzog, Crain’s Chicago Business, 1/27/25)

“A venture led by Tom Liravongsa, an investor from Grand Rapids, Mich., acquired the Pittsfield space through a foreclosure sale in late April, 2023. An unknown in Chicago real estate circles, Liravongsa is managing partner of L’Cre Partners, an investment boutique that specializes in real estate and other alternative investments, according to its website.

“Liravongsa’s venture owns all but floors 13 through 21 in the Pittsfield. The former office space is mostly gutted, waiting to be redeveloped. Previous developers proposed a hotel and residential units for the space; given the continued strength of the apartment market, rental housing could make the most sense there now. Apartments fill the other floors in the building, which are owned by Chicago-based Marc Realty.

“It’s unclear what Liravongsa plans for the Pittsfield. Marc Realty executives recently spoke to Liravongsa’s team by phone, according to Marc Principal Gerald Nudo. ‘They said, ‘We’re planning to fix up the building,’ and we were encouraged,’ Nudo said, declining to say more on the record.

“It will take a major investment to turn around the Pittsfield. Designed by Graham Anderson Probst & White in a hybrid art deco and Gothic style, the high-rise was the tallest building in the city when it opened in 1927. It is ‘one of Chicago’s finest 1920s-era skyscrapers, built during the decade when the city’s distinctive tower-pierced downtown skyline first began to take shape,’ according to a 2001 report recommending a landmark designation for the property.” (Gallun, Crain’s Chicago Business, 5/15/23)

Read the full story at Crain’s Chicago Business

• Did a city rezoning strip the Pittsfield Building of its value? A jury could decide, Rachel Herzog, Crain’s Chicago Business, 1/27/25
• Is the Pittsfield Building cursed? There’s no reason the historic Loop landmark couldn’t be another LondonHouse or Chicago Athletic Association hotel—well, except for a long string of bad breaks that now includes allegations that its Chinese-Canadian majority owner is guilty of running a financial scam, Alby Gallun, Crain’s Chicago Business, 8/3/2018
• Michigan investor takes over Pittsfield Building stake, but court battle drags on, Alby Gallun, Crain’s Chicago Business, 5/15/23
• Morgan Reed gets day in court over Pittsfield Building rezone; Miami-based developer claims city violated Constitution’s 5th Amendment in zoning out hotel uses, The Real Deal Staff, 1/28/25
• After years of neglect, a downtown landmark goes up for sale; A new owner of the Pittsfield Building could pull the 38-story tower out of its funk, ending a dysfunctional drama that included an international financial scandal and a bitter court battle, Alby Gallun, Crain’s Chicago Business, 6/15/22
• The long-stalled redo of this troubled Loop tower reaches a turning point. Trying to predict the future of the Pittsfield and another prominent property owned by the same investor—the huge Motorola campus in Harvard—has been next to impossible. But that could be about to change, Alby Gallun, Crain’s Chicago Business, 5/21/21
• The History of the Pittsfield Building in Chicago, Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D., Digital Research Library of Illinois History Journal, 3/28/20
• Pittsfield Building Chicago Landmark Designation Report 12/12/2001