WFLD moves on

By October 1984, WFLD had been at Marina City for about 17 years. In the Chicago metro edition of TV Guide, for the week of December 16, 1967, the address for WFLD is given as Marina City. The UHF television station was in the theater building, above Marina Cinemas. But new facilities were being constructed for WFLD on Lake Shore Drive.

Although it had dropped its five-minute evening newscast the year before, in 1984 WFLD was planning to re-enter the competitive Chicago television news market. A total of 48 people would produce a half-hour newscast weeknights at 7 p.m., beginning mid-1985.

The movie theaters had gone out of business in 1977. When WFLD left Marina City in 1986, the theater building sat vacant.

Svengoolie remembers ‘The Whale’ at Marina City

“The whale” is what Rich Koz called the building that once housed WFLD. The television station was located at Marina City from 1967 to 1986, starting out in the office building where Hotel Sax is located today, but soon moving to the theatre building now occupied by House of Blues. WFLD was on the second and upper floors, above the movie theaters that closed in 1977. In the early 1980s the theaters were converted to office space for WFLD.

Koz is probably better known as “Svengoolie,” host of a weekly show on WCIU. From 1979 to 1986, he was “Son of Svengoolie,” a local cult favorite that featured such films as the 1955 3-D thriller, “Revenge of the Creature.” (Left) Rich Koz, as Son of Svengoolie, stands outside WFLD studios at Marina City.

“Originally, entering the building lobby on the ground floor, you walked to the rear left, where the WFLD elevator was. This whisked you to the upper floors. First, the studio level, which contained WFLD’s master control and two studios – one of which eventually became a bullpen style office.”

The next floor up contained offices, but above that was a large attic where props, set pieces, and tapes were stored. One particular memory Koz has is when a stage hand brought down an artificial Christmas tree from an upper floor. “Someone said, ‘how’d you put the snow on it?’ To which he responded, ‘that ain’t snow – it’s asbestos!’”

Some of the set pieces in the attic were from “Cartoon Town with Bill Jackson,” a popular children’s program that aired on WFLD from 1968 to 1973.

“We found some old monogrammed shirts, still in the bags from when they were returned from the dry cleaner’s that belonged to [Chicago White Sox owner] Bill Veeck, who had done some shows there in the ’70s.”

Station employees parked on the marina level below the theatre building, which was risky at the time, says Koz. “People were mugged or had their cars broken into down there.”

Koz says there was a stairway that went from the marina level all the way up to the storage attic. “Homeless guys would go in there, to the various levels to keep warm and/or relieve themselves. They couldn’t get into the building levels proper, because the doors on each floor only opened from the inside.”

(Above left) Cover of 1982 press kit for 3-D broadcast of Revenge of the Creature. (Above right) Rich Koz in 2007 with less makeup.

Born in 1952, Koz took over the character of Svengoolie from Jerry G. Bishop, with whom he worked on a morning radio show at WMAQ. “Svengoolie” now airs on WCIU Channel 26 Saturday nights at 9 p.m.

Koz has won numerous regional Emmy awards. He is also the host of “Stooge-A-Palooza,” a program featuring the work of The Three Stooges.

 Svengoolie page at wciu.com. Click on “Svengoolie” at bottom of home page.

 1983 opening of Son of Svengoolie, which included exterior video of Marina City.

Bankrupt commercial owners forced to sell

By 1983, the commercial portion of Marina City was owned by Marina City Associates, a limited partnership led by Dallas investor Ellison Trine Starnes, Jr.

The 1980s were not kind to Starnes. In 1986, he defaulted on three business loans – totalling $77.5 million – from Silverado Savings and Loan, whose directors included Neil Bush, whose family included two U.S. presidents. The collapse of Silverado in 1988 cost taxpayers $1.6 billion.

In 1986, Starnes donated $30,000 to an organization that gave money to Oliver North, an official with the Reagan administration who was at the center of a scandal involving the clandestine sale of weapons to Iran. And he was a stockholder in West Belt National Bank, a Houston bank that was closed in 1989. (Left) Abilene Christian University Class of 1967 yearbook photo of E. Trine Starnes, Jr.

Charles Swibel had sold the last of the commercial property, the 16-story office building, to the partnership in 1983 for $11.6 million. It had cost at least $10 million to build. But with no equity in the property, it was an $11.6 million profit for Swibel.

Continental Savings Association may have identified Starnes to Swibel as a potential buyer. Howard Swibel says Continental loaned his father, Charles Swibel, all of the money to purchase the commercial property at Marina City in 1977.

Why did he want to sell? Says Howard, it was “an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

Charles Swibel continued to manage the commercial property for Starnes for at least three years after he sold it to him. “They definitely sought his advice. He gave them advice about tenants because he was the one who had most of the connections with the tenants.”

The residential property had been sold as condominium units in 1977, making for Swibel what the Chicago Tribune described as “a financial killing.”

One of the first things Starnes did when he took over the property was to evict many of the office and retail tenants, in order to renovate the complex. However, the renovation ran into financial problems and Marina City Associates fell behind on its mortgage payments.

Says Howard Swibel, “These people had represented themselves as being savvy operators. And then they got themselves into financial distress.”

Howard thinks his father felt bad about the problems because people blamed him, even though by that time he was not involved and had no control over it.

Continental Savings Association of Houston, which held the $12.5 million mortgage, filed for foreclosure in 1987. But they were declared insolvent and taken over by the now-defunct Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation.

Before the foreclosure could take place, Marina City Associates declared bankruptcy in 1988 and – because a bankruptcy takes precedence over a foreclosure – the property was put under the control of a federal bankruptcy trustee.

On November 3, 1988, it was announced that the commercial property – everything except the residential towers – would be sold at an auction later in the month. This included the 19-story parking garage at the base of each tower, the commercial block below the ramps which mostly consisted of Marina City Restaurant, the 500-slip marina below that, the office building which was only 15 percent occupied, and the vacant 1,350-seat theater building.

Seay & Thomas Inc., a Chicago real estate firm, was hired to sell the property. They hired an Indiana company, Kruse International, to conduct the auction. According to the prospectus sent to potential bidders, the commercial property was “ideal for redevelopment with potential for over one million square feet of development.”

At 11:00 a.m. on November 22, bidders gathered at the Hyatt Regency Chicago hotel a few blocks from Marina City, each bringing a certified check for $1 million as earnest money.

Kruse had said the value of the commercial property could be as high as $200 million. This was much higher than what the property actually sold for, $22.7 million.

Matas Corporation, a north suburban office development firm, was the successful bidder. It was their first venture into downtown real estate. Their most recent development had been a $90 million office park in Deerfield, Illinois.

Without going into details, they announced major renovation plans for the property. “We feel the property has tremendous upside potential,” Steven G. Levin, vice president of Matas, told the Chicago Tribune. “A lot of things are beginning to happen along the Chicago River, and we’re excited that we are going to be part of it.”

But before closing on the deal, Matas Corporation backed out, without public comment.

Levin (left) is currently president of Brijus Properties, a real estate investment and development firm.