108 North State Street, also known as Block 37, is a development located in the Loop community area of downtown Chicago, Illinois.

The previous buildings on the block were demolished in 1989 for a hotly contested redevelopment plan under the then Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

The debates included the demolition of the Chicago Landmark McCarthy Building, which proceeded after the Illinois Supreme Court decided private preservation groups did not have standing to challenge the city's decision.

[4] By 1970, the block was densely developed with 11 buildings, housing theaters, offices, a YMCA, and retailers like grocery store Stop & Shop.

On June 14, 1973, Mayor Richard J. Daley announced a broad urban renewal initiative centered on the North Loop theater district.

Property assembly was facilitated by Mayor Harold Washington's creation of the North Loop tax increment financing district in 1983, which gave the urban renewal effort a steady revenue stream and eminent domain authority.

[6] The modern-day Block 37 is flanked to the west by the Richard J. Daley Center and to the east by the former Marshall Field and Company Building.

It is part of the central business district that includes Chicago City Hall and the James R. Thompson Center (the State of Illinois office building) within 2 blocks.

[10][11] Architecturally, the main floor features transparent cornered project facades and clear glass street level views.

[15] Cost overruns and delays forced the city of Chicago and the Chicago Transit Authority to pay about $100 million to cover already-incurred costs, and the CTA canceled the project, partly because it did not have the estimated $1.5 billion that would be needed to create express airport service (as opposed to slow local train service using existing tracks and stations).

[19] After the failure of the superstation project, the city began investigating the possibility of a privately constructed airport express service using Block 37 as the downtown endpoint.

The city announced in June 2018, that The Boring Company had won a contest to negotiate a contract to construct a high-speed rapid transit link to O'Hare, dubbed Chicago Express Loop, using twin tunnels and electric vehicles based on the Tesla Model X.

[20] Funding for construction and operation would be provided completely by the company, and the system would reduce travel time to O'Hare to about 12 minutes.

[21][20] Block 37 was demolished in 1989, after Mayor Richard M. Daley approved its demolition to erect a multi-use skyscraper with retail, hotel, office, and residential spaces.

[24][25] Maggie Daley's nonprofit, After School Matters, started as Gallery37 in the summer of 1991, where the organization set up tents to provide visual arts classes to teenagers.

Mills sold the development rights to Joseph Freed and Associates in 2005, when the city committed $42 million in tax-increment funding.

Mills' troubles began in November 2005, with revelations of large losses on failed projects, a cash crunch and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting.

[35] On April 6, 2007, Simon Property Group, Inc. announced the joint acquisition of Mills Corporation along with Farallon Capital Management for $25.25 per share of common stock.

[34] Golub, an international real estate investment company headquartered in Chicago, has closed on the office space portion of the project.

[9] Mills eventually sold the retail space rights to Chicago developer Joseph Freed & Associates, who had previously purchased the nearby Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building (located at 1 South State Street) that closed in early 2007.

[39] Lenders, including Bank of America, moved to foreclose on the retail and transit portion of the mixed-use development on October 19, 2009, because Joseph Freed and Associates ran out of money.

[41] On November 20, a circuit court judge stripped Freed of the development rights and turn the responsibility over to CB Richard Ellis.

[49] The Mills Corporation has letters of intent from CBS 2 Chicago Broadcast Center, Boggi Milano, Sisley, Andrew's Ties, Banana Republic, Rosa Mexicano, David Barton Gym and new concepts by Steve Lombardo, creator of Gibson's Steakhouse and Hugo's Frog Bar, and Steven Foster, creator of Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood as future tenant commitments.

[50] In April 2005, Mills had announced a lease commitment with WBBM-Channel 2 for about 100,000 square feet (10,000 m2) of space for offices and a showcase television studio.

[54] Other stores rumored to be considering Block 37 at that time were Apple Computer and Crate & Barrel home furnishings[55] On July 31, 2006, the retail and CTA construction began.

[34] However, financial troubles caused delays that necessitated Morningstar—who had intended to occupy over half of the building—seek lease proposals from other downtown office towers.

[34] Morningstar was hesitant to pursue other opportunities because their lease at 108 North State Street was at a below market price in the low $20s/square foot.

[34] On June 11, 2008, the CTA board was scheduled to hear the city's plan of a three-phase bailout of the construction of the rapid transit station under the Block 37 mall.

[67] Other March 2009 tenant signings included Chicago's haberdashery Bigsby & Kruthers, Sunglass Hut, crystal jewelers Swarovski, Starfruit Cafe, and Fast-casual eatery Tahini.

The building remained only 26 percent occupied at that time due to hesitance by retailers to commit to leases while lender Bank of America and developer Joseph Freed battled in bankruptcy court.