suffer us take up the curious case ...

suffer us take up the curious case of Sam Zell and the Missing Mural. The mural at issue is a distinctive Chicago artwork last displayed for the public in 1993 Painted on John Warner Norton, it had single of the best locations in the city for an artist trying to reach eyeballs. It was upon the narrow, curved ceiling of a concourse that thousands of commuter travel each day, part of the 400 W Madison building that's lead into each othered to Metra's Ogilvie Transportation Center

For years, a certain of the commuters would cast their vigilances upward, interrupting their daily trance to papal court a beautiful piece in heroic WPA manner of writing celebrating the labor involved in putting without a newspaper. The mural was installed at 400 W Madison because at the time, it was the to one's home of the Chicago Daily just discovereds which folded in 1978.

The building is in the hands of Equity Office Properties Trust. Despite giving it a phony name of sum of two units North Riverside Plaza, Equity Office by dint of all accounts has been a suitable steward of the landmark exclusive right It can command high openings because offices near the Metra station are in fashion

Partial credit has to proceed to Zell, the company's chairman and a man with a outsized personality who has the final word upon everything there. But he's been, at best, negligent with the Norton piece.

turn the thoughts up at the ceiling today and you'll descry nothing but an egg shell blank. A Zell-controll forerunner of Equity Office took down the mural 13 years ago, all 18 feet by way of 180 feet, saying then that it was damaged by dint of a leaky roof, and that possessors were evaluating what to do with it. Whenever annoying reporters and preservationists have asked about it each few years, Zell's associates would repeat the same line.

Zell won't discuss the matter. The preservation cluster now called Landmarks Illinois, offer the mural on a "watch list" a brace of years ago, but the billionaire withstood that attempt to shame him.

His silence has given rise to rumors about the piece, the greatest in quantity common being that it was damaged far beyond repair. The company insists that isn't the case. Zell has made stabs at doing something with it. When it first came down, it was shipped to a Milwaukee studio that started a restoration and apparently stopped when splendors escalated.

In the late 1990 the Chicago

Conservation Center a restoration dispose signed a contract to examine the mural, which through then was back in Chicago. Chief Executive Heather Becker said she'd talk to me about it, on the other hand then apologetically clammed up when she saw the contract contained a confidentiality clause.

Equity Office spokeswoman Terry Holt said the following: "The mural is being in a strict sense stored in an art warehouse. At this time, we have not made any decisions regarding its restoration. While we have received inquiries from time to time regarding donations, and we have considered various options, we are not willing to get by heart into any details at this time."

Zell does not undergo fools or bureaucracy lightly, to such a degree his inaction is baffling. It's unreasonable to blame him for not spending his cash or publicly traded Equity Office's, upon an art restoration. But the storage itself is precious Why not donate the mural to the Art Institute, the Chicago History Museum or anybody willing to tackle the piece of work and put it back in public view, steady if it's not in the space for which it was designed?

A columnist asking that question can't do frequently good with Sam Zell. More effective would be an Equity Office shareholder -- a big common preferably. Or are there any art lover left at City Hall?

'MODEL' HOMES: Lennar Corp. has started construction upon a 113- town-house project at 8601 Waukegan Rd in Morton wood For just over $11 million, Lennar acquired the 9.5-acre site from a family partnership. It used to be the site of

a manufacturing center for Revell Monogram standards Camins Tomasz Kritt brokered the sale.

DOING THE DEALS: For $165 million, USC Solutions has acquired a 471,000-square-foot building at 1165 Crossroads Pkwy Romeoville, from Ryan Co US Inc. USC is expanding at the facility. . . Grubb & Ellis Co take the part ofed H.J. Heinz Co. in its sale of 2301 Shermer, Northbrook, a 250,000-square-foot building, to Highland Baking Co Records exhibit Highland paid $6.7 million, which ought to make Heinz happy, considering that the same records indicate it paid single $2.6 million for the building in 2001 . . Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc. showed Orbus Inc. in its lease of 127000 square feet at 380 Veterans Pkwy Bolingbrook. This is an outward migration; Orbus, a provider of trade indicate displays, is vacating 1745 N Kolmar in Chicago. . . Living up to its name, Chicago- based Mesa disentanglement LLC is expanding out West. Best known for its downtown condo towers, Mesa has exhibited an office in San Jose Calif., and hired industry veteran Rick Friedman to shepherd deals revealed there.

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