Originally known as
Continental Center III, in reference to the original moniker of
CNA Financial Corporation, Continental National American Group, both CNA Center (formerly
CNA Plaza) and the neighboring CNA Center North (Continental Center II, built in 1962 at 55 East Jackson Blvd.) adjoined and were painted red. The shorter red building was later restored to its original gray tone in 1999. The two buildings remain joined at the second floor: CNA's Conference Center uses space on that floor, but all entrance and egress to it is through CNA Center. The company's previous headquarters from 1943 to 1962 had been
Metropolitan Tower (310 South Michigan Avenue, aka Continental Center I). In 1999, a large fragment of a window fell from the building and killed Ana Bertha Flores who was walking by with her three-year-old child, Viridiana. Windows had been cracking at the building ever since it had been built in 1975 due to thermal stress of uneven heating caused by the building's inset windows. CNA Financial, a property insurance company, later paid $18 million to settle the resultant lawsuit. All of the building's windows were replaced in an expensive retrofit. 333 South Wabash became a
Chicago Landmark in 2012. CNA decided to sell the building in 2015 after relocating to
151 North Franklin, and the
John Buck Company acquired the building in March 2016 for $108 million. Buck planned to redevelop the building. In January 2020, a joint venture between
Michael Shvo's firm
SHVO, Deutsche Finance, and BLG Capital agreed to buy the building for $370 million. Hayden Hall, a food court in the building, opened the same month but closed shortly afterward due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sale of the building was finalized that August for $376 million. Hayden Hall reopened in 2024. ==Lighted window messages==