By Dave Dahl

Seemingly every year, lawmakers and the governor propose the sale of the state’s office building in Chicago to try to balance the budget.

They will not have that device anymore.

Gov. JB Pritzker Wednesday announced the $70 million sale of the James R. Thompson Center to Prime Group, doing business as JRTC Holdings, L.L.C., fronted by Mike Reschke, for $70 million.

“There was a lot of talk over the years about actually demolishing the building,” Reschke told a news conference in that very building, “which would be a travesty. An absolute travesty.”

The Helmut Jahn-designed building, which opened in 1985, is architecturally significant but inefficient to operate, and the state has not kept up with maintenance either. Reschke said the glass exterior would be clad with a new “curtain” which will help hold down energy costs and give people on the inside a clearer view than they have now. What’s more, another “curtain” will keep noise from the atrium away from the office space.

Speaking of office space, Pritzker said the state plans to buy back about a third of the space for its use.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].