Chicago Sun Times: Contract approved to build arena/hotel near McCormick Place
A contract to design and build a $564 million event center and hotel complex in the South Loop was awarded on Tuesday to Prairie District 3 Partners.
James Reilly, CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, also known as McPier, recommended the Prairie District 3 group to the Authority’s board at its monthly meeting on Tuesday. The event center is intended as the future home of the DePaul University basketball teams and, with the 1,206-room hotel, could become the centerpiece of a new entertainment district near the McCormick Place convention center.
Total cost of the arena portion of the project — $164 million — had gone up about 17 percent since it was first proposed in early 2012, Reilly said.
CBS Chicago: Rauner Asking State Agencies To Come Up With Plans For Budget Cuts
Governor-Elect Bruce Rauner is asking for a 20 percent budget cut from lame-duck Governor Pat Quinn.
CBS 2 news is confirming that Rauner is asking dozens of key state agencies from prisons to highways to present a plan to trim up to $7 billion from this year’s budget.
“The department heads should be planning and preparing for a budget that actually is balanced and we’ve been asking for information so we can come intooffice and properly manage the Government going forward,” Rauner said.
Chicago Sun Times: Rauner getting a fixer-upper: governor’s mansion
Mansion expansion?
Dave Bourland, the Lord of the Manor, is waiting.
Curator and director of the 159-year-old governor’s mansion in Springfield, Bourland is eager to meet its next occupant — Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner, who plans to renovate the historic home with private funds.
“I’m looking forward to working with him, but so far I’ve heard nothing,” said Bourland, who has worked for five governors since he was hired in 1977 by Republican Gov. Jim Thompson — a Lincoln memorabilia collector who had a field day collecting antiques for the executive residence, which was built in 1855. It’s the third-oldest governor’s digs in the nation.
SJR: State begins accepting fracking applications
Companies can begin filing for hydraulic fracturing permits in Illinois, though it remains uncertain how soon the hotly debated oil and gas production technique might begin.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has posted permit applications online, spokesman Chris Young said Tuesday. Companies must register with the department 30 days prior to submitting the application.
Three companies — Brigham Resources Operating LLC of Austin, Texas; Strata-X Inc. of Denver; and PXP Oil & Gas Inc. of Houston — had registered as of Tuesday.
Time: Uber Reportedly Valued at $40 Billion by Investors
On-demand ride service Uber is raising new funding at a valuation of between $35 billion and $40 billion, according to a new reportfrom Bloomberg. This would be one of the richest “venture capital” rounds in history (Facebook still holds the crown), and likely mean that investors expect Uber to eventually go public at a valuation of at least $100 billion.
T. Rowe Price reportedly is in talks to come aboard as a new investor, while existing shareholder Fidelity Investments also would participate.
There have been market rumors that the round would be structured as convertible debt rather than preferred equity, although those rumors also were married to a $25 billion valuation. If the price has changed, so might have the security type.
Politico: Obamacare, coming to a mall near you
HHS is hitting the malls this weekend to make sure that Obamacare is on the minds of consumers during the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
The department on Wednesday will announce new partnerships it has made with retail stores, pharmacies and popular websites to spread the word about the current open enrollment season, which began on Nov. 15 and ends Feb. 15. On three key days after Thanksgiving — Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday — as well as dates beyond, Westfield Shopping Centers, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the XO Group will provide consumers with information about how they can sign up for coverage through the exchanges.
The outreach approach is a stark shift from Obamacare’s first year, when HHS utilized celebrities and other high-profile figures to generate buzz about HealthCare.gov. But with a shorter enrollment period this time around, the necessity of capturing renewals and the challenges of messaging in the midst of a frenetic holiday season, HHS is turning to more practical approaches to get people to enroll.
Chicago Business Journal: Chicago home sales not keeping pace nationally, report says
The Chicago area home sales don’t appear to be following the national trend, a newRedfin survey found.
On a national level, the number of homes sold was up 2.2 percent year over year in October, making it the first month in 2014 that clearly outpaced 2013 in sales, Redfin reported. In its Real-Time Housing Market Tracker, the national real estate brokerage concluded that with money cheaper and more people employed, along with an influx of homes coming onto the market, it only makes sense that potential buyers would turn into actual buyers.
However, the figures for the Chicago area don’t seem to be matching. Locally, home sales were down 3.5 percent year-over-year in October. The Chicago Tribune also reported figures from S&P/Case Shiller that showed home prices in the area dropped from August to September, though prices are higher than a year ago.
Wall Street Journal: A Peek at the Highest Earners’ Tax Returns
The 400 individuals and couples reporting the highest adjusted gross income for 2010 – the latest data available – earned an average of $265 million per return, according to new statistics from the Internal Revenue Service. The agency has tracked such data since 1992.
The total income for the group of 400 taxpayers was $106 billion. Although the 2010 total was far higher than the $81 billion earned by the group in 2009 during the financial crisis, it was still well below the $138 billion reported for 2007, the record high.
The 2010 figure came to 1.3% of total income reported by all U.S. taxpayers. In 1992, by comparison, the top 400 claimed 0.5% of total income.