SOUTH LOOP — Moving the landmarked Harriet Rees Home on Prairie Avenue last year cost taxpayers more than $8 million, a sum that could buy the property 10 times, according to a report.
The home, which had stood at 2110 S. Prairie Ave. since 1888, was relocated one block north late last year to make way for the McCormick Place Event Center. At the time, the contractor who did the job said "you don't see houses move like this every day."
The move had a price tag to match. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, a quasi-public agency that oversees McCormick Place and Navy Pier, collectively spent more than $8 million to acquire the Rees house and relocate it, according to a Sun-Times report Saturday. The figures were disclosed in court filings related to the agency's acquisition of the Rees home's former and current sites, the report says.
The agency, using bond proceeds, paid $5.8 million to physically relocate the home, and $2.33 million in professional fees and other costs to acquire the Rees home's former and current sites. The total $8.13 million cost is more than 10 times the $798,000 the Cook County Assessor believes the Rees home is worth.
Mary Kay Marquisos, a spokeswoman for the agency colloquially known as McPier, declined to comment.
Designed by Cobb & Frost, the Romanesque Revival limestone home is one of seven original mansions left standing in the historic Prairie Avenue district, according to the city. The home, built in 1888, was designated a local landmark in 2012. It is named after Harriet Rees, the widow of 19th Century real estate developer James H. Rees.
Taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $2.7 billion in bonds McPier has issued since 1992 and it will cost about $11.5 billion, including interest, to repay them by the time they come due in 2053, the Sun-Times reports. The McCormick Place Event Center, where DePaul University will host its basketball games, is expected to open in 2017.
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