Midsize Theater Project Shifts Its Sites
Navy Pier and the midsize theater development project have parted ways–at least for now. Late last month, the Chicago Music and Dance Theater Transition Advisory Board set up by the Chicago Community Trust abruptly announced that its new preferred site was the $92-million symphony center the CSO recently voted to build next to Orchestra Hall. Not long after that, James Reilly, CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, informed the advisory board that the authority would begin pursuing other options for Navy Pier.
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The board had been interested in Navy Pier for about two years; last spring it made its opinion official by voting to build there instead of at Cityfront Center. But this spring the CSO notified the advisory board that it was planning a new complex and asked the board to consider putting its theater there. Deciding that the Michigan Avenue site would be more central and closer to other cultural attractions than Navy Pier, the board announced their new preferred site at the end of June–curiously, a few days before the official CSO vote to move forward on the project. All along, however, the Chicago Community Trust has maintained that construction cost will be a key factor in choosing a theater location, and according to a preliminary estimate, a new theater inside the symphony center would be several million dollars more expensive than one at Navy Pier. The trust apparently hoped to keep Navy Pier as a backup in case the CSO site proved too expensive, and Reilly has indicated that the trust could come back to Navy Pier, but only if the pier doesn’t find another use for the space first.
Most problematic, however, is the delay likely in opening a theater in the symphony center. CSO executives say the new facility would not open until 1998 at the earliest, two years later than would have been the case at Navy Pier. For many of these midsize organizations, two more years could mean the difference between life and death. “We can’t afford to wait,” says a source for one group hoping to use the new theater. Chicago Opera Theater, another potential user (formerly based at the Athenaeum Theatre), has already canceled next season, and whether it will ever start up again remains to be seen.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/J. Alexander Newberry.
