While posing a major inconvenience to the building's tenants, it also has created chaos to Downtown traffic flow--auto, pedestrian as well as rapid transit. Elevated rail "El" tracks run overhead on Wells Street, so 188 W. Randolph St.'s structural problems are disrupting train service on three lines. One-block stretches of Randolph and Wells streets are closed to traffic. Meanwhile, traffic already is a mess as a result of the $200-million Wacker Drive reconstruction project beginning two blocks away.

Although some of the building's tenants say the housing court's decision was "overkill," city officials say it could be a matter of life and death. "We could've done one of two things," says Department of Buildings Commissioner Mary B. Richardson-Lowry. "We could've waited until someone was seriously hurt or killed, or we could've asked ourselves what do we do to make sure the public is safe."

The city has asked the owner of the building, Telegraph Properties, to repair the falling terra and provide adequate canopies over the sidewalk. The city claimed in court that Telegraph Properties, which bought the property four years ago for $6.1 million, have failed to do so.

The city has levied $300,000 in fines, increasing at a $5,000-a-day clip, against the property owners and plans to bill them for the two-block stretches of steel canopies.

The façade problems reportedly began when the building was recaulked. However, water has penetrated the caulking, and freezing temperatures have created the potential for pieces of terra cotta to pop out.

The city last year began requiring owners of buildings such as 188 W. Randolph St. to do more than yearly exterior inspections of façades. In addition to more thorough exterior inspections, the city requires reporting of work done and scheduled. "Yearly visual façade examinations of these types of buildings have not proven to be a reliable method of detecting conditions that may necessitate immediate maintenance," Mayor Richard M. Daley said last year.

Leon Greenblatt, representing Telegraph Properties, had little to say to reporters after the court hearing except, "I'm sure there's a resolution to everything."

Telegraph Properties refinanced the property last year for $7.6 million.