Revenue and ratings are both down, and WBBM-TV Ch.2’s general manager Bruno Cohen is being forced to do whatever he can to stop the bleeding, even if that means renting out space in his own building. According to David Roeder’s column in the Sun-Times today, Cohen is looking to lease out both street-level studio space as well as office space in the new facilties on the corner of Dearborn and Washington, in the Block 37 space:

Cohen hired Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. to find sublease tenants. And he struck a deal with Flashpoint Academy, a school for digital film production, to have partial use of the station’s Studio B, which isn’t visible to the public.

David Matthews, executive vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, said the two studios, each about 5,000 square feet, are drawing interest because of the specialized nature of the spaces. He said CBS also wants to sublease 10,000 square feet of orthodox office space on the building’s fifth floor.

“To the extent that somebody wants Studio A, we’re all ears,” he said.

Ch. 2 was late to the game when they proposed and built their street-level studio under the guidance of former general manager Joe Ahern. Both Ch. 5 and Ch. 7 already had their studios operational, and in the case of Ch. 7, at least, the studio was being used more more effectively.

When Ch. 2 left its old facility, they put together this piece that details some of the history of the old building:

To promote the move to the new facility, here’s a promo that station produced:

And here’s the final sign-off from Ch. 2’s morning news from the old building at McClurg Court.