“The Delaware Building is one of Preservation Chicago’s most endangered buildings. It’s also been vacant for years now, but all of a sudden there is some scaffolding up around it so what exactly is happening here and what is the future of the Delaware building?
“We are joined now by Ward Miller from Preservation Chicago. Thanks so much for being here. Please give our viewers a bit of background on the history of the Delaware Building.
(Ward Miller) “The Delaware building is one of Chicago’s old structure and it was built in 1874 as the Bryant Building. As many of you know, in 1871 we had a tremendous fire here. The great Chicago fire burned most of the central area portions of the south side and a great portion of the north side along the lakefront so this is one of Chicago’s oldest buildings and of course one of the oldest buildings in the downtown area or the Loop and this is one of our Chicago 7 Most Endangered Buildings. It has survived a great history here in downtown Chicago and has avoided demolition for more than 150 years, so we’re hoping to see a good outcome here with the Delaware building.
“We’re not sure what that outcome will be. We’ve learned that there’s some scaffolding around the building. Are we hearing any reports on what this could be fixing?
(Ward Miller) “We’re under the impression that its regarding some structural issues and some cosmetic issues relating to the buildings first and second floors that was they were originally occupied in the last 2530 years by McDonald’s. They had a two-story storefront on the site and since about Since the beginning of Covid, there’s been a shutdown of that location and the bill has been mostly vacant so we’re really we’ve been really concerned about the structure and we’re hoping this is a couple of good steps towards a good outcome.
“If this building was revitalized, what type if users do you anticipate?
(Ward Miller) “In the past this building was home to everything from insurance companies to small attorney’s offices. Its catty corner from the Daley center, so we think that this could serve a similar purpose for small offices or it could be converted to residentials we’ve seen in so many other situations most recently downtown or even like a commercial hotel but you know it shouldn’t be a vacant building. We should be celebrating this wonderful structure. It’s one of our cities oldest buildings at least in this area
“Many people may know it as the building with the two-story in McDonald’s. Do we know the challenges posed by the lease that McDonald’s has had on that building?
(Ward Miller) “We know the lease was for 99 years and it started more than 35 years ago or so and in the night in the 1980s about 1982 when the building was Landmarked. It also went underwent a restoration of the bottom two floors. It was a very streamlined restoration and unfortunately those repairs that were made and those modifications haven’t held up very well, especially in the last decade or so. With the vacancy of the storefront by McDonald’s and the vacancy of the building we’ve just seen the conditions there worse so we’d really like to see this all repaired the building reactivated.
“It’s a beautiful building. It’s got a curve in your corner. It’s a block away from the Thompson center, which is being revisioned by Google and hoping to open in the next 12 or 16 months and we think this is a great opportunity for the Delaware building to shine again. It has an amazing eight-story light-filled atrium interior atrium to which all the offices open up to. It’s a really a special building that needs a little TLC and we’re hoping that that’ll happen quickly. (Fox 32 Chicago, 10/2/25 (7:57))
Watch the full interview at Fox 32 Chicago