The Biography of Chicago’s Marina City
Snapshots of the 1980s
1981-83
The State Street Bridge is a trunnion bascule bridge over the Chicago River, and it is raised periodically to allow sailboats to pass. A Marina City resident learned this in a painful and undignified way on August 28, 1981.
Despite alarms and barricades that are activated before the bridge is raised, 73-year-old Mary C. Foley (1908-1995) ventured out onto the north span. As it rose, she clung to the bridge as long as she could, then slid down toward a gap at the base of the bridge. A police officer grabbed her, saving her from falling into the river.
She was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.
The following year, a 25-year-old man was not as fortunate when he ran into trouble near the State Street Bridge. On a hot July 15, 1982, Al Burltey was visiting Marina City and decided to swim across the Chicago River.
He did not make it to the other side. Despite a quick arrival by a rescue helicopter, Burltey drowned in 20 feet of water. He was found about 20 feet from the Marina City docks. He would have turned 26 the next day.
About 100 people watched the rescue attempt from the State and Dearborn Street Bridges.
When Marina City Bank was robbed on March 18, 1983, most of the money taken had just been withdrawn by a Marina City resident.
It happened on a Friday morning. A man walked into the bank, asked the guard for directions to the men’s room, and was directed to the nearby bowling alley. He came back, angrily told the guard, “There’s no washroom there,” and pulled out a gun.
After disarming the guard, the man confronted a woman who had just withdrawn $2,100 and told her to give him the money. He then ordered a teller to hand over money from a cash drawer, which netted him another $800.
(Photo) John F. Timmer, Marina Bank president, 1982-87. Timmer is now Chief Credit Officer and Senior Vice President of First National Bank of Brookfield.
Less than a month later, on April 7, 1983, there was an attempted holdup at Marina City Bank and this time a guard was shot and wounded.
It started when two gunmen came across building security guard Larry Brown and his half-brother, Wilkes Kirkland, about 100 feet from the entrance to the bank. They demanded Brown’s gun but he was unarmed. The robbers then led the men at gunpoint into the bank.
When bank security guard Jesse Willis saw this, he pulled his gun but was shot in the abdomen before he could fire. After falling to the floor wounded, he may have gotten off some shots, as did at least one of the would-be robbers. With about 50 customers in the bank at the time, witnesses say seven shots were fired.
The gunmen got away but no money was taken. After surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Willis was in good condition.
By this time, the bank was a branch of Marina Bank, located on North Michigan Avenue in the Old Republic Building. In 1987, NBD Bancorp purchased the holding company for Marina Bank, USAmeribancs.
(Above) “Bargain hunters jam the Hotel Continental’s grand ballroom during an auction of 31 Marina City condominiums,” reads the caption for this image by Chicago Sun-Times photographer Dom Najolia. This auction took place on February 2, 1983. “Whether or not they found bargains is an open question – prices were relatively high, but a special financial package with low interest rates was offered.”
In early July 1983, it was announced that four investors, including 10th Ward Alderman Edward Vrdolyak, would sell 33 Marina City condominium units.
Vrdolyak had purchased 50 units from Charles R. Swibel in 1978, reportedly at “bargain basement” prices. It was a controversial deal at the time because it happened on the day before the city council approved the condo conversion.
Most of the units to be auctioned on July 10, 1983, at the Ambassador West Hotel belonged to Vrdolyak. Market values in 1983 were estimated at $59,500 to $150,000 ($140,200 to $353,500 in 2015 dollars) for studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units.
| Updated 26-Apr-15 |