AMA Plaza (formerly IBM Plaza or IBM Building; also known by its address 330 North Wabash Avenue) is a skyscraper in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was designed in the International Style by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, with C. F. Murphy as the associate architect, and was the last building Mies designed in Chicago before his death in 1969. The tower is tall with 52 stories and, when completed in 1972, initially housed the Chicago offices of the technology firm IBM. Since 2013, the 2nd through 13th stories have functioned as a hotel called the Langham, Chicago, while the remaining stories continue to be used as offices. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a Chicago Landmark.
IBM officials first contacted Mies to design the building in 1966, and the company officially announced plans for the building in June 1968. Work began in February 1969, and the building was formally dedicated on September 20, 1972. After the last vacant offices were leased in 1975, the building remained fully occupied for two decades. IBM downsized its offices in the mid-1990s and sold it in 1996 to the Blackstone Group, which resold it in 1999 to Prime Group Realty. The building's two largest tenants, IBM and Jenner & Block, announced plans to move out during the mid-2000s, and the 2nd through 13th stories were sold off for hotel use in 2008. Following a major renovation of the entire building, Langham Hotels International opened the Langham hotel there in 2013, and the building was renamed that year for the American Medical Association (AMA), a major office tenant. Beacon Capital Partners bought the office stories in 2016 and conducted another renovation.
AMA Plaza is positioned near the northern end of the site, set back from the Chicago River, and is surrounded by an outdoor public plaza. A glass curtain wall, with vertical mullions of anodized aluminum, forms the building's exterior. The lobby's facade is set back behind an arcade of columns, while the upper stories are nearly identical in design. The superstructure is a steel frame, with its interiors divided into rectangular modules. The building was equipped with computer-controlled mechanical systems to increase energy efficiency. The entire ground level is occupied by a lobby, while the second floor (originally the dining room) contains a lobby and restaurant for the hotel. The upper floors were originally open plan offices, though the floors occupied by the hotel have since been subdivided. When AMA Plaza was completed, it received commentary on its design. Both the building and the Langham hotel have received awards, and the building has also been depicted in several works of popular media.
Site
AMA Plaza, also known as the IBM Building, is located at 330 North Wabash Avenue in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was originally alternatively known as One IBM Plaza—a vanity address, since the building's real address was on Wabash Avenue. It is situated on an irregular land lot on the northern bank of the Chicago River's main stem, just north of the Chicago Loop. The site occupies a city block between the Chicago River to the south, State Street and the State Street Bridge to the west, Kinzie Street to the north, and Wabash Avenue and the Wabash Avenue Bridge to the east. The section of Wabash Avenue adjacent to the building deviates from the Chicago street grid, curving slightly westward into the lot. In general, the buildings on adjacent blocks are mid-rise or high-rise buildings, with a mixture of residential and commercial uses. Originally, the IBM Building faced the Sun Times Building to the east; Before the IBM Building was built, the Chicago Sun-Times operated a storage building on the site There are also several Chicago "L" stations nearby, including State/Lake station across the Chicago River to the south and Grand station on State Street three blocks to the north. There is an outdoor public plaza surrounding AMA Plaza, which takes up half of the lot, extending south to the Chicago River shoreline. The plaza has a group of sculptures by the Taiwanese artist Ju Ming, known as The Gentlemen. At the south end of the plaza is an ivy-covered wall descending to the river.
History
The building's first namesake, IBM, was established in the 1880s. It had maintained a Chicago office since either 1914 or 1916, initially employing a dozen people there. By the 1960s, IBM had more than 4,000 employees in Chicago alone, That November, IBM obtained an option on a site along the Chicago River's northern bank, between Wabash Avenue and State Street, from the Chicago Sun-Times. Upon being hired, Mies was driven to the site to inspect it. It was to be the third-tallest building in Chicago, after the John Hancock Center and the First National Tower, IBM also acquired part of the adjacent section of Wabash Avenue, which protruded into the site, and closed off that portion of Wabash Avenue. The company decided to position the new building away from the Chicago River, allowing a large public plaza to be built on the riverfront, while enabling views of Lake Michigan to the east. IBM gave the general contract to Paschen Contractors, the steel contract to American Bridge Company, and the elevator contract to Otis Elevators. Following Mies's death, Bruno Conterato, an associate with his firm, took over the development. Mies's grandson Dirk Lohan, then in his early 30s, also assisted with the design. The IBM Building was one of several major high-rises constructed in Chicago during the late 1960s, along with Marina City, the John Hancock Center, the First National Tower, and the AT&T Building.
To accommodate the IBM Building, workers built an overpass over the railroad tracks and remodeled a bulkhead along the river. Work was briefly delayed in March 1970 due to a labor strike by heavy equipment operators, and further strikes were organized later the same year by delivery-truck drivers and cement masons. The steel superstructure had reached the 12th floor when the truck drivers went on strike in May 1970, and most of the lower-story finishes had been finished by then. During the building's development, in September 1970, U.S. President Richard Nixon visited the site and met with construction workers. Conterato also traveled to Rome, where the travertine marble for the lobby was being quarried, to ensure that the graining on the travertine slabs lined up with each other. The superstructure was finished by the end of the year. The building was nearly completed by mid-1971, and several tenants such as Arthur Young & Co. had already leased space by then.
IBM occupancy
1970s
thumb|The building seen from the ground
IBM began relocating over 2,000 staff to the building in October 1971. The structure was formally dedicated on September 20, 1972; a bust of Mies, sculpted by Marino Marini, was dedicated in the building's public plaza the same day. It was one of several skyscrapers finished in Chicago that year, along with 2 Illinois Center and the Mid-Continental Plaza. Scribcor was the building's original manager, hiring and training service employees and security guards, and maintaining a newsletter for tenants. Among the first tenants were Arthur Young & Co., and the record label Mercury Records. Firms with smaller offices were placed on intermediate floors between tenants with larger offices. This allowed larger tenants to expand their offices to adjacent floors when smaller tenants' leases expired, rather than occupying non-contiguous space in the building. As such, IBM drew up plans for a separate parking garage at Wabash Avenue and Kinzie Street; That same year, IBM offered to donate $175,000 for a public park (later the Chicago Riverwalk) on the southern bank of the Chicago River, directly south of the building. After the last vacant offices were leased in 1975, The same year, the building was slightly damaged by a bombing, for which a Puerto Rican separatist group, Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña, claimed responsibility.
In the IBM Building's early years, its energy-efficient mechanical systems saved $50,000 monthly and reduced energy use from per month, compared with buildings of similar size. The mechanical systems also helped the building function efficiently during the 1970s energy crisis in the U.S., which started shortly after the building opened, and an IBM executive credited the mechanical systems with giving the building a timeless quality. The structure accommodated 5,800 workers by the late 1970s, and its maintenance crew had about 100 employees.
1980s and 1990s
IBM installed an antenna atop the building in 1980 for Satellite Business Systems' satellite network, and the company constructed a park along the Chicago River near the building during that decade. By the mid-1980s, office space in the building generally rented for . and it was near the average rental rate for newer office space in the neighborhood. Arthur Young & Co. also remained a major tenant, occupying , and it maintained offices there even after being merged into Ernst & Young in 1989. During the decade, the lobby hosted periodic exhibits, such as scale models of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions and a replica of the Statue of Liberty's torch. In addition, as part of a 1989 art installation, all of the building's windows were temporarily illuminated in red, white, or blue.
In 1990, IBM banned smoking in the building's communal spaces and in its own offices within the building. The IBM Building was still fully occupied, but it had only six tenants; the larger tenants had expanded their space after smaller companies had moved out. IBM was still the largest occupant, with 60% of the space. the National Parent Teacher Association, accounting firm Arthur Andersen (which canceled its lease after dissolving in 2002). The IBM Building's public plaza was frequented by skateboarders because of the low security presence there. IBM retrofitted the interior spaces with energy-efficient lighting in 1992, saving $912,000 in energy costs annually. Due to IBM's financial losses, the company downsized its Chicago staff from 9,000 to 4,200 during the early 1990s. This freed up large swaths of office space at the IBM Building. IBM planned to lease out about by 1993, and the building had available two years later, being 80% occupied.
IBM was looking to sell the building by 1996; at the time, the company occupied only a quarter of the space and had reduced its Chicago workforce to 800 employees. after nearly reneging on the purchase due to tax disagreements. Blackstone's ownership lasted just three years, and the values of office buildings in downtown Chicago increased significantly during that time. By 1998, Blackstone wanted to sell the IBM Building and the nearby 225 North Michigan Avenue for a combined $425 million, more than twice the total price Blackstone had paid for the two structures. Prime Group Realty, a company partially owned by Blackstone, offered to purchase the IBM Building as part of a deal involving another building in Cleveland. or whether it was due to a real-estate downturn. The lawsuit was dismissed in February 1999 when Prime Group agreed to pay $238 million for the building. Prime Group paid a non-refundable $8 million deposit
2000s
alt=The facades of the IBM Building, a dark rectangular glass-and-aluminum structure, and the Trump Tower, a round glassy structure with several setbacks|thumb|The IBM Building as seen from the south; the [[Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago)|Trump Tower is visible at right]]
In the early 2000s, IBM converted on two stories into an electronic business briefing center, and the security presence in the lobby was increased in response to the September 11 attacks. By then, the building earned $17.2 million annually from rent revenue. By 2004, IBM's lease of at 330 North Wabash Avenue was scheduled to expire in two years; at the time, IBM was the building's second-largest tenant. IBM leased space at the Pritzker family's under-construction Hyatt Center, The company finished moving its offices in 2006, leaving a third of the IBM Building vacant. The IBM Building's largest tenant—Jenner & Block, which occupied under a lease that expired in 2010—was also considering relocating when its lease expired. which took control of the IBM Building. Mesirow Financial also considered leasing large parts of the building and obtaining its naming rights, the under-construction Trump Tower obstructed eastward views from the building. That September, the owners announced plans to renovate 330 North Wabash Avenue for $130 million. Despite the renovation plans, Jenner & Block did not renew its lease, There would have been amenity spaces on the 2nd floor and 275 apartments on the 3rd through 14th floors; and an increasing number of office buildings in Central Chicago were being converted to residential use.
Split ownership and renovations
Prime Group announced in November 2007 that the 2nd through 14th floors would become a luxury hotel; LaSalle Hotel Properties and Oxford Capital Group bought the 2nd through 13th stories for $46 million in March 2008, planning to renovate these floors into 335 hotel rooms. The sale of the lower stories came amid a growing trend in which Chicago buildings were being split between multiple owners. Concurrently, Prime Group planned to upgrade the mechanical systems, restrooms, and elevators in the rest of the building. LaSalle sold its 95% stake in the lower stories in December 2010 for $58.8 million. The new owner—Great Eagle Holdings, a parent company of Langham Hospitality Group The renovation was expected to cost $100 million,
In December 2011, the American Medical Association (AMA) announced it would move its Chicago offices to 330 North Wabash Avenue, AMA bought the building's naming rights as well. Latham & Watkins and SmithBucklin also leased space at the IBM Building within a month of AMA's lease; the three firms' lease commitments totaled approximately . although the office stories were not intended to be renovated, the hotel plans had triggered a historic-preservation rule that required the entire building to be examined. The project included upgrading mechanical systems, restrooms, corridors, and elevators. It also involved adding a green roof, The renovation was partly funded through the Class L designation, a tax incentive given to city landmarks.
The Langham Chicago hotel had a soft opening on July 10, 2013, becoming Langham Hospitality Group's third American hotel. The hotel's Travelle restaurant opened on August 9, operating an outdoor location, Elle on the River, on AMA Plaza's patio during the summertime. The Langham, Chicago, fully opened on September 10 of that year, Langham also proposed installing 11 sculptures in the plaza outside AMA Plaza; the Commission on Chicago Landmarks rejected the initial request, but it eventually allowed the hotel to install the sculptures near the Chicago River. By late 2013, the building was 92% occupied.
Mid-2010s to present
LaSalle Investment Management tentatively offered to buy the building in March 2016, forming a joint venture with the China Investment Corporation (CIC). or $570 million. Beacon Capital Partners acquired the office stories and a nearby 902-space parking garage in September 2016 for $467.5 million. and Beacon received a $304 million loan to help finance the purchase. After Beacon bought the office stories, it further upgraded the mechanical systems, for which the building received a LEED Gold green building certification. Beacon also hired ESI Design to redesign the underutilized plaza, and ESI added Barcelona chairs to attract visitors.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the capacity of the building's elevators was severely restricted to enforce social distancing. That year, Beacon refinanced the building with a $370 million adjustable-rate mortgage loan. The interest rate on the loan increased so much that Beacon's annual loan payment exceeded the building's net income by 2023. Soon afterward, the loan was sent to a special servicer, since Beacon had missed a loan payment, and there was a concern that Beacon might default on the loan.
The lenders moved to foreclose on the building's loan in November 2024, at which point the offices were 84% occupied; at the time, it was one of the largest-ever foreclosure lawsuits initiated in Chicago. By 2025, the office stories were appraised at $208.5 million, a significant decline from their 2022 value.
Architecture
AMA Plaza was designed by the office of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Mies's architectural practice was the project manager and was responsible for the preliminary drawings. C. F. Murphy oversaw the engineering and building plans It is the second-tallest building by Mies (after the Toronto-Dominion Bank Tower at Toronto-Dominion Centre) and was Chicago's third-tallest building when completed. AMA Plaza was the last office building designed by him in the United States, and, of the five office buildings that Mies designed in his eighties, was the only one that was ultimately built. The building was also Mies's final design in Chicago, out of 47 buildings he designed in the city. At the time of its construction, AMA Plaza was the largest office building IBM had ever developed,
The structure is designed in the International Style and is similar in appearance to Mies's earlier Seagram Building in New York City.