Persistence Moves Dirt at Hyatt Center

CHICAGO-After Penny Pritzker decided to proceed with the Hyatt Center project as a three-party deal, brother Tom Pritzker was told by a top Goldman, Sachs & Co. official that he doubted the 47-story building at 71 S. Wacker Dr. would ever happened. “Penny said, ‘I’m moving ahead’,” recalls Pritzker, chief executive officer of the family’s Hyatt Corp.

That was after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US forced a redesign of the project (See: Hyatt Center Design Makes for Happy Campers.) , as well as some second thoughts on proceeding at all. “Penny came back and said, ‘I’m not willing to abandon this’,” Pritzker says.

As Bovis Lend Lease crews worked in the background, the $427-million project moved ahead Thursday with a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site before developers and anchor tenants moved indoors to UBS Tower, ironically co-developed by The John Buck Co., which is building a similar-sized structure across Monroe Street at 111 S. Wacker Dr.