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Allstate buys former HSBC headquarters

Daily Herald | Allstate has bought the former headquarters of HSBC Corp. in Prospect Heights.  The insurance company said it would demolish the two buildings there immediately and hold the land for future development.

Mortgage bond insurer on bankruptcy’s brink

Ambac Financial Group Inc., which was the second-largest U.S. bond insurer before suffering huge losses on risky mortgages, said it may file for bankruptcy protection as soon as this year after skipping a bond interest payment.

Ambac shares slid as much as 59.8 percent Monday. Get the full story »

Bulls coach Thibodeau leases in Highland Park

ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | New Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau has leased a three-bedroom row home just west of downtown Highland Park for $4,900 a month.

In June, Thibodeau, 52, inked a three-year, $6.5 million deal with the Bulls. On July 23, Thibodeau signed another contract to rent the eight-room home, which was built in 2007. It has three full baths, two half baths, one fireplace, a gourmet kitchen, a study, an elevator and a finished lower level. Get the full story »

Daley urged to halt fast food restaurant construction

A group that lobbies against fast food and meat consumption will ask Mayor Richard Daley to temporarily stop fast food restaurant construction.

In a Nov. 4 letter shared with the Tribune, a director of nutrition at The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine writes that fast food consumption leads to obesity and heart disease.

“This step is urgently needed because Chicago’s high-fat, meat-heavy diets are literally breaking hearts,” Susan Levin, the director of nutrition, writes. “A moratorium on new fast-food restaurants could be a critically important step toward fighting this epidemic.” Get the full story »

Nebraska discount retailer coming to Algonquin

Crain’s Chicago Business | A Nebraska discount retailer is set to enter the Chicago area next year. Gordsmans Stores will be taking a 47,500 square-foot space in Algonquin Commons, according to mall owner Inland Real Estate.

General Growth taps former Vornado exec as CEO

General Growth Properties Inc. named Sandeep Mathrani, Vornado Realty Trust’s  former president of its retail unit, to become the No. 2 U.S. mall owner’s new chief executive after it emerges from bankruptcy next month, the company said on Thursday. Get the full story »

More unlicensed mortgage firms exposed

Eleven Chicago-area companies were cited Thursday by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for offering mortgage loan modifications to consumers without a license.

The companies ordered to stop offering loan medications and pay a fine of $25,000 each were Opportunity Consultants; Carrey Services; American Accurate Services; Gamez & Associates Ltd.; Juan Hernandez; Home Loan Modification; Homeowner’s Advocates Centers; Imperium Realty Group; Mortgage Mitigators; Mi Familia; and Loan Rescue Corp. Get the full story »

Jones Lang LaSalle to manage Milwaukee mall

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel | Jones Lang LaSalle is completing a deal to become the property management firm for  Milwaukee’s Shops of Grand Avenue. The downtown mall is owned by Bank of America.

Chicago sees sharp rise in foreclosure warnings

The foreclosure crisis intensified across a majority of large U.S. metropolitan areas this summer, with Chicago and Seattle — cities outside of the states that have shouldered the worst of the housing downturn — seeing a sharp increase in foreclosure warnings.

Dimon sells mansion for highly reduced $6.8M

By Bob Goldsborough | JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon on Wednesday closed on the sale of his 18-room Gold Coast mansion for $6.8 million.

The buyer’s identity was not immediately available. Get the full story »

Midwest paces 6.6% gain in new home sales

Sales of new U.S. homes improved last month after the worst summer in nearly five decades, but not enough to lift the economy.

The Commerce Department says new home sales in September grew 6.6 percent from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 307,000. Even with the increase, the past five months have been the worst for new home sales on records dating back to 1963. Get the full story »

Merz Apothecary moves to Palmer House

Merz Apothecary will close its store inside Macy’s on State Street at the end of the day Wednesday, and begin the week-long process of moving to the Palmer House a few blocks away.

The family-owned business, known for its homeopathic remedies and colorful bath products, plans to open at the historic hotel at 17 E. Monroe St. on Nov. 4. A grand opening is slated for Nov. 11.

The new location at the historic hotel — on the first floor near the bellhop and the Starbucks — will expose the Chicago retailer to thousands of tourists a day, said Anthony Qaiyum, owner of Merz. Get the full story »

Chicago-area home prices improve for 6th month

Home prices in the Chicago area eked out a sixth consecutive month of ever-so-small improvement in August, putting them on par with the market’s health in early 2003, according to the widely watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, released Tuesday. Get the full story »

Harris decides not to buy Amcore’s Rockford HQ

WIFR.com | Harris Bank has taken a pass on Amcore’s Rockford headquarters, leaving the FDIC holding the seven-story building.

Chicago trial HAMP loans down in September

The number of Chicago-area homeowners in trial mortgage modifications continued to fall in September, while the number of people who have received permanently lower payment terms rose 4 percent in the month, the Treasury Department said Monday.

The government’s September accounting of its Home Affordable Modification Program also showed that borrowers in permanent modifications are having trouble keeping their loans current, even after the payments are reduced. Get the full story »