Chicago Tribune: Business

Developer Hines has a deal to buy and demolish a McDonald’s office building near the Oakbrook Center mall, with plans to construct several towers on the site. The preliminary agreement for McDonald’s Plaza, which is contingent on Hines receiving zoning approval, comes about a month after McDonald’s...

The building formerly known as the John Hancock Center is also getting a new owner: Sterling Bay. The Chicago developer has a more than $300 million deal to buy the office and parking portions of the 100-story skyscraper at 875 N.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

You’re settling into your window seat, bound for a summer vacation, when the flight attendant wishes you a happy birthday or commiserates about the lousy weather that delayed the last leg of your trip.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Comcast is pulling the plug on EveryBlock, the Chicago-based hyperlocal news site it revived four years ago. The website, which features blurbs about restaurant closings, building break-ins and community events, will go dark July 19, with a link steering EveryBlock users to sign up with Nextdoor,...

Sears Holdings Corp. laid off 200 corporate employees last month, following a round of 220 job cuts earlier this year. About 150 of the employees affected in the latest round of job cuts worked at the company’s Hoffman Estates support center, Sears spokesman Howard Riefs said Wednesday in an email.

Losing money due to a Medicaid shortfall, South Shore Hospital sent a desperate plea to the state Tuesday, saying it needs $3 million in funding by Aug. 1 to avoid a shutdown.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Eight years after the last building was demolished in the Harold L. Ickes Homes public housing development, an ambitious plan to build almost 900 mixed-income residences on the site is moving closer to reality.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

J.M. Smucker Co. is considering a sale of its baking brands, including Pillsbury, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The food manufacturer is working with an adviser as it weighs options for the unit, which also includes the Robin Hood flour and cereal brand and Martha White baking...

A Supreme Court ruling last month that said public sector workers can’t be forced to pay fees to unions they don’t want to join could squeeze overall union revenue, limiting organized labor’s ability to champion a variety of progressive causes that affect private sector workplaces as well, some...

The world's two biggest economies fired the opening shots Friday in a trade war that could have wide-ranging consequences for consumers, workers, companies, investors and political leaders. The United States slapped a 25 percent tax on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports, and China is retaliating...