The federal government, we hope, will have an open mind as it starts soliciting reuse proposals for downtown's historic Century and Consumers buildings next month.

The U.S. General Service Administration earlier this month wisely -- and surprisingly -- spared the vacant century-old skyscrapers at 202 and 220 S. State St. from the gallows.

Then the agency, which initially wanted to raze the structure to build a security plaza for the nearby Dirksen Federal Building, seemed to hang the buildings with an albatross' worth of security measures that we fear will scare away developers.

But one developer is expressing interest. Quintin Primo III told the Sun-Times' David Roeder last week he plans to respond when the GSA issues its call to developers.

We're not endorsing a Primo proposal; other developers will surely put their own ideas forward. But it's encouraging when someone in the business says "there's some room for negotiation and some room for flexibility" with the GSA mandates.

"As developers, we're problem-solvers, and I think we can develop a plan that meets the need for security," said Primo, founder and executive chairman of Capri Investment Group, who joined developer Michael Reschke to turn the James R. Thompson Center into Google's Chicago headquarters.

It's also a good sign a GSA spokesperson now says the agency will consider "proposed deviations" to the feds' security mandate for the towers and that a reuse plan should line up with city plans to enliven State Street.

The trick now is to make sure the buildings are reused in a way that really helps State Street and doesn't wind up looking like something that ultimately bowed unnecessarily to the federal government's security concerns.

And the GSA and U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, must also find a way to help fund the Century and Consumers' reuse, with the $52 million Durbin earmarked in 2022 to raze the buildings.

The government spent some of the cash demolishing one of the two small retail buildings between the towers, but $45 million is left. An amount like that could help insure the reused buildings would be an asset to downtown.

Along with the money, there is certainly enough architectural and real estate development talent in this city make sure that happens.

All the GSA has to do is let them get creative and do their jobs.

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