Restaurant to take some WGN space at Tribune Tower

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Updated: January 11, 2012 1:50PM

Tribune Co. said Wednesday it will lease prime ground-level space on Pioneer Court to a restaurant operator.

Bottleneck Management Group will lease 14,000 square feet along the southeast part of Tribune Tower. The space is occupied by Tribune-owned WGN Radio, which will move to new studios and offices on the tower’s 7th floor.

The station’s showcase studio on Michigan Avenue will remain.

The restaurant is expected to open in 2013 and employ about 150. The type of food to be offered hasn’t been decided.

Chris Bisaillon, an executive at Bottleneck, said the company will “develop a dynamic plan for this space — one that works in harmony with Pioneer Court, our neighbors, our growing tourism industry and, of course, our future customers.”

Tribune, which is operating in bankruptcy, has been working to extract revenue from excess real estate. It has hired brokers to lease about 100,000 square feet of retail space and 150,000 square feet of office space at Tribune Tower.

Last fall, an Argo Tea store opened near the tower’s main entrance.

Bottleneck owns four Chicago restaurants: Trace at 3714 N. Clark, Boundary at 1932 W. Division, Sweetwater at 225 N. Michigan and South Branch at 100 S. Wacker.

WGN Radio has been in the tower since 1986, when it moved downtown from the longtime WGN-Channel 9 space at 2501 W. Bradley Place.