The hulking Old Post Office building that lay empty for the best part of two decades – and that many feared might never be redeveloped – will soon reopen.

What was once the largest post office in the world that sent Sears and Montgomery Ward packages across the country and around the globe has finally been given a multimillion-dollar makeover.

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

(Photo © Tom Rossiter, courtesy of Gensler)

In a Chicago Tribune column last week, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Blair Kamin wrote: “The company and its lead architects … moved methodically to restore confidence in the battered landmark, removing asbestos and lead paint, installing new mechanical and electrical systems, stabilizing the facade and bringing back the main lobby’s luster.”

Kamin is clearly impressed by what has been accomplished to date.

“What has transpired so far at 433 W. Van Buren St. is a near-miracle, coming just eight years after the eccentric British multimillionaire Bill Davies floated a loony, $3.5 billion plan to transform the former post office and its environs into a sprawling urban mall and entertainment complex topped by five skyscrapers,” Kamin wrote.

“What’s already compelling is the revival of this building, which, as recently as a few years ago, was considered an irredeemable white elephant.”

Kamin joins “Chicago Tonight” to discuss the Old Post Office redevelopment.

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