In 2022, the building was proposed to be demolished, with $52 million[a] earmarked for tearing down both the Consumers Building and the neighboring Century Building.
Early tenants included the Consumers Company, which occupied the 20th and 21st floors, the Hilton Company, a men's clothing retailer which occupied the corner store, Remington Typewriter Company, and film companies Mutual, Paramount, Pathé, and Universal.[1][2][5][6] A sixty foot electric sign on the roof of the building advertised the Consumers Company.[1][2] A. Weis & Company operated the Winter Garden, an upscale restaurant located in the basements of the Consumers Building and the adjacent 214 South State Street building, which Kesner had purchased to ensure a skyscraper would not be built there.[1][2][7][8]
In the 1920s, the Allied Amusements Association, an association of motion picture and vaudeville theatre owners, had offices on the building's 13th floor.[2][9] Other tenants in the 1920s included Carnation Milk, the Cooperative stores, Integrity Mutual Insurance Co., Liberty Mutual, and the Pullman Company.[2] In 1931, men's clothing store Benson & Rixon began renting 5,000 square feet of space on the ground floor.[2] In 1936, Benson & Rixon left the building and was replaced by another men's clothing retailer, Howard Clothes.[10][11] Benson & Rixon moved to 206-12 S. State St., before moving to their newly built store at 230 S. State St. the following year.[11][12] Howard Clothes remained in the Consumers Building through the 1970s.[2]
In 1931, title to the building was transferred to Kesner's son in law, I.W. Kahn, who headed the Kesner Realty Trust.[2] The trust defaulted on its lease, and in 1937, title to the building was turned over to the owners of the ground leases.[2] In 1947, the building was sold to the 220 S. State St. Corporation for $2 million.[b][13]
In 1960, a group of Chicago investors purchased the building for $2 million.[c][17] The building later served as home to the Illinois Public Action Council, the Chicago Public High School for Metropolitan Studies, and the regional office of the Community Relations Service.[18][19][20][21][22] In 1976, the building was sold to a group of Chicago businessmen for $2 million.[d][23]
In 2017, CA Ventures reached an agreement to purchase the Consumers Building, the Century Building, and the two smaller buildings in between, for $10.38 million.[e][27] The Consumers Building and Century Building would have been converted to apartments, as part of a $141 million[f] redevelopment project, while the historic Streamline Moderne storefront of 214 South State St. would have been restored and incorporated into a 25,000 square-foot structure built between the taller buildings for retail and commercial use.[27][25] Under the terms of the agreement, the City of Chicago would purchase the buildings from the federal government and then immediately sell them to CA Ventures.[28] However, the City of Chicago backed out of the agreement in December 2019, citing security concerns at the nearby Dirksen Federal Building.[28][26]
In 2022, Preservation Chicago listed the Consumers Building and the nearby Century Building as one of Chicago's 7 most endangered buildings, after a $52 million[g] federal earmark to demolish the buildings was revealed.[29][30][31]
^Blue Book of Chicago Commerce. The Chicago Association of Commerce. 1920. p. 565. Archived from the original on April 10, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
^"Benson-Rixon Leases State Street Store". Chicago Tribune. May 31, 1936. p. C10.
^ abChase, Al (June 2, 1936). "Men's Clothing Chain to Open Chicago Store". Chicago Tribune. p. 29.
^"Benson & Rixon State St. Store to Open Tuesday". Chicago Tribune. October 10, 1937. p. B11.
^"21 Story Consumers Building Is Sold for 2 Millions Cash". Chicago Tribune. January 19, 1947.
^"U.S. Mediation Offices Now at 220 S. State St". Chicago Tribune. June 15, 1948. p. 2.
^Burns, Kathleen (April 30, 1970). "For Students in 'The Metro,' All the World's a Classroom". Chicago Tribune. p. S11.
^United States Department of Justice, Community Relations Service (1972). Community Relations Service. Archived from the original on April 10, 2024. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
^President's Council on Youth Opportunity (1969). Manual For Youth Coordinators. p. 126. Archived from the original on April 10, 2024. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
^"S. State building bring $2 million". Chicago Tribune. June 2, 1976. p. C9.