Gleacher Center

I have taken classes here at Gleacher Center many times while I was an MBA student at Chicago Booth. As many of the Booth students live downtown near the Aqua building and MPP, this place’s location is super convenient to get to. Many of the 2^nd year full-​time students or some of the «smarter» 1^st year students would pick classes here at Gleacher and would have literally a 8 minute door-​to-​door commute to get to class.
The cafeteria and food within Gleacher is not the best, but there are various good options right around Gleacher center (such as Purple Pig, etc.). So you do not necessarily have to eat there. But I loved studying here because it has a high end PC center for printing, doing anything you need productivity wise. In addition, it has quite study areas for critical periods for final exam study etc. All in all, I enjoyed studying here, and it is a great building close to the heart of the city of Chicago.

Lovely event space but ridiculous mandatory catering from Wolfgang Puck. Jennifer their sales person insists that their pricing is competitive, but I can tell you as someone who hosts events that $ 50 for a boxed lunch is extremely expensive for a standard venue.
Additionally, their staff is extremely rude which is so unusual to find in the hospitality industry.

Gleacher is a gem steps away from Michigan avenue and on the Chicago River and is a great place to host meetings or conferences. The building is beautiful and clean and when you walk in, you immediately are enveloped in the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Intellectual mindset… students are studying, professors walking the halls in the late afternoons. The catering is consistent and tasty (at least most of the options) and the service is top of the line. The admin staff cares and ensures that every detail is paid attention to. Ample parking is available and the gleacher center is logistically great due to a private drive up entrance away from the michigan avenue and columbus avenue traffic. Navy Pier and 5+ hotels are within a 5 minute walk.

I wasn’t going to write a review on this place because its just a cafeteria but it needs to be said that the food is insanely overpriced. I just paid 7.50 for eggs and 2 pieces of sausage. The last couple of times I was there I got salads and they both cost me well over 8 dollars. For a salad bar salad? Give me a break. They charge based on weight but what they need to do is take into consideration that my eggs shouldn’t cost as much as a main course. You are a cafeteria not a 4 star restaurant.

Modern, convenient, the Gleacher Center is a great place to host a meeting or a function.
Having been here several times now for both, this is a state of the art facility. The classrooms are tiered and while you may feel you are in the upper seats at the United Center in the back row– it allows for almost an intimate feeling where everyone can see and participate.
Parking is easy too. If you park underneath in any one of the lots down there– it is easy enough to walk over to the stairway in the corner and find yourself within steps of the front door (especially helpful in the Winter).
The staff make your meetings easy, the kitchen does a good job with the food and the price to rent a classroom is reasonable.
Next time you are looking for meeting space in the city– see if the Gleacher Center can fit your needs.

It’s true that the cafeteria food here is not superb (except for the soup). But I’d like to point out that the catering for meetings and special events is top notch. I’ve attended a few events here and everything from the soup to the steak was just impressive.

Seminars always suck… but they suck so much less when there is juice, bagels, and muffins!!!

After having spent over a year in this building pursuing my certification, I will tell you that I love this building.
I will give this a big fat 4-​stars just for the fact that it’s directly in the heart of everything. Being new to the city, I could never get lost because it next door to the Tribune and Wrigley buildings. You come to appreciate these little things when you need landmarks to navigate the city.
As for the building itself, the place is clean and offers great classes. For those interested in an Integrated Mktg certification program downtown, look no further UofC has it here. Its so cost conscious. There are plenty of places to study between classes and there is ample parking. The UofC negotiated with a couple of parking lots to offer discounted parking to students at $ 5 to $ 6 bucks. That’s a good way to feel appreciated when you have to drive in for a class.
The only downside to the building is the food services. They only accept cash. They have an old ATM machine downstairs but come now… If the bookstore takes credit, why can’t the food people.
Overall, its a great place to take classes and offers discounted parking.

I am an alum of the undergrad and while this place is the total opposite of campus, I appreciate its modern look and amenities. I have been taking some classes here lately and like that I can catch a bus over here from the office and that lower Wacker is a quick shortcut back to the train at the end of the night.
That being said, someone needs to replace the cafeteria food. Wolfgang Puck is serving a whole lot of garbage down there! The sandwiches are AWFUL and overpriced. I got a Turkey sandwich that had abotu a half pound of dessicated brie and maybe one half of an ounce of the «cranberry spread». The lettuce was wilted and there was one basil leaf forelornly sitting on the roll. Gross. My classmate went with the roasted chicken and tomato jam and had to open it up looking for the minute trace of jam in there — bland as could be. The options right around here stink — I would be better off stopping at JJ’s before class and bringing it with me.

I am making a new entry for Gleacher Center to rate its food, not the academics like the other entry.
Wolfgang Puck Catering handles the food here. WP like any other large franchise business is only as good as its local help. I can attest that in Jan 2007 when I was here, the staff was GREAT. The food superb.
They served us lunch for a week buffet style. Every lunch had a couple of salads, at least 3 entrees, a few sides and dessert. Every dish they served was done extremely well. If this was a standard restaurant I would rate their dishes 4.5 stars. But because this was catered for 60 people… and the demands on a buffet are unique and tougher… I readily give them 5 stars
We had a variety of Italian, Chinese, Asian fusion, traditional American entrees and sides. Almost everyone was so full from lunch that most only needed a snack for dinner. (However a snack in this part of downtown Chicago can still run over $ 30!!!) They also served a variety of sandwiches on rustic bread that were fabulous.
Do not pass up a chance to take a class here and eat their catered food. It is as good as most of the other restaurants in town, short of getting a personally grilled steak.

This funky concrete and glass building is located just north of the Chicago River and east of Michigan Avenue. Designed by the firm Lohan Associates in 1994, it is part of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. It has a bookstore where you can pick up a U of C sweatshirt and look smart.

Wanna’ look smart wearing a U of C sweatshirt? Or maybe you’re searching for a bit more information on the world dominating ‘Chicago School of Economics’ and the thoughts behind the power of capitalism and free trade (IUJ Yipes!).
Well, the Gleacher Center Bookstore is the place to find just that sort of literature. Knowledge is power!