DAN MCGRATH: Big Ten’s blockbuster TV deal only confirms it: Money talks. PAGE 2
NOTABLES: Meet 50 leaders in community development. PAGE 19
CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 22, 2022 | $3.50
Walgreens wanders into culture wars Moving deeper into health care, the pharmacy giant can’t dodge controversies like the abortion issue
JOHN R. BOEHM
BY ALLY MAROTTI
617 W. Fulton St.
Walgreens Boots Alliance’s transformation into a health care company puts the Deerfieldbased drugstore chain in the middle of the bitter debate roiling the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. As a health care provider and a major employer, the company faces pressure from both sides of the divisive issue. On one hand, Walgreens is trying to meet its obligations to customers seeking reproductive health products such as birth control prescriptions, condoms and Plan B pills. On
the other, it’s trying to respect the beliefs of employees who object to contraception on religious or moral grounds. It’s a difficult and potentially untenable balancing act—particularly amid a tight labor market and flaring tensions around reproductive rights. It’s also something CEO Roz Brewer will have to get used to as the company moves further into health care, an area fraught with social and political tensions. Brewer has pinned unprecedented growth goals on Walgreens’ expansion from its roots as a drug retailer and wholesaler to See WALGREENS on Page 34
CAN’T AFFORD A PIED-À-TERRE?
NOW YOU CAN SHARE. A real estate startup bets people will pay premium prices for partial ownership of prime properties I BY DENNIS RODKIN
F
or people whose dreams of an in-town or weekend home are far larger than they can afford, a new company has an idea: buy just a part of the property. Vinci Life is peddling “co-ownership,” a contemporary version of sharing vacation property ownership with siblings and friends. Buy a oneeighth share of a Vinci Life condo in Fulton Market for $352,000, for example, and get use of it for 44 days out of the year. Vinci Life is also marketing shares of mansions on the Gold Coast and in Lincoln Park and New Buffalo, Mich.—all places that are popular with affluent second-home owners. Although it’s not yet a common way to buy, “there’s absolutely a market for buying like this,” says Joanne Nemerovski, a Compass agent. See CO-OWNERSHIP on Page 28
“YOU ACTUALLY OWN A PIECE OF REAL ESTATE, NOT TIME.”
2022
Here are the 100 companies employees say represent the best workplaces in our area. PAGE 8
Matt Laricy, the Americorp agent representing Vinci Life’s Fulton Market condos
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THE TAKEAWAY
CRAIN’S LISTS
Catching up with former CBOE exec William Brodsky. PAGE 6
Our roundups of private-equity and venture-capital firms. PAGE 14
8/19/22 2:58 PM