The state of Illinois plans to sell a piece of property well known to “Chicago P.D.” fans: Voight’s silos.
The industrial locale at 2900 S. Damen, north of I-55 along the Sanitary and Ship Canal, contains rows of graffiti-strewn, abandoned grain silos that flank the city skyline in the distance.
It’s the spot where Sgt. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) dragged a no-good bum in the NBC series premiere, roughed him up a bit and then drew a line in the proverbial sand, ordering said criminal to stay out of Chicago. It’s evolved into a satellite office of sorts for the maverick cop.
“This is where Voight comes to do his dirty work,” the show’s location manager Nick Rafferty said during a press event last month that took reporters to various shooting sites for “Chicago Fire” and its spinoff, “Chicago P.D.” “It just so happens they built the city between the silos so it’s perfectly cinematic.”
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The 24-acre parcel is the only vacant state-owned property in Chicago, according to the Better Government Association. The state tried but failed to auction it off in 2008.
Crain’s Chicago Business reported Tuesday that Illinois will soon take another stab at unloading it. The Department of Central Management Services hired Rick Levin & Associates to sell the property in an online auction starting Nov. 2. Bids will be taken until Nov. 7.
“For Voight, this is the dividing line between Chicago,” writer and executive producer Michael Brandt told reporters on the tour. “As we saw at the end of season one, there’s some real nefarious stuff that goes on in this spot.”
Director and producer Mark Tinker said it hasn’t always been easy filming at the isolated location. The crew sometimes encounters squatters on the site, which also attracts graffiti not necessarily suited to network TV.
Tinker noted that the area also was used as the scene of a bridge explosion in the latest “Transformers” movie.
“We chose this spot for the visuals,” Brandt added. “We’re telling stories with words but also with pictures, and this place speaks for itself.”
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