The Congrees Threater is a privately owned building that was allowed to be dilapidated by its white owners and the city is giving them tax subsidies (TIFs) and on top of it, it’s not a business and it’s not an industry .. it is a hang out spot for dopers and freaks .. Peopel should not confuse leisure activities about work and industry and jobs … this is payback for mayor BJs election … shows priorities … there’s a lot more better things to spend this much money on in black and brown communities rather than a white hang out spot on the northside … could have gave Pastor Corey Brooks some money to finish off his vocational school on O Block for black kids but U Didn’t … #choices #Deeds
Panem et Circenses
TIF Support Approved for Congress Theater Renovation
July 19, 2023
312.744.9267 Department of Planning and Development
The restoration of the historic Congress Theater mixed-use complex in Logan Square as a state-of-the-art live performance venue with ancillary residential and retail spaces will be supported by $27M in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) approved by City Council today.
The $87.8 million project at 2135 N. Milwaukee Ave. by BR Congress and Congress Theater NFP will restore the building’s auditorium, which was closed in 2013 due to building code violations, as a 4,900-seat music venue. The project will also revitalize approximately 13,000 square feet of ground-floor storefronts and 23,000 square feet of commercial space, which will be made available to non-profits and community groups at below-market rates. Additionally, the work will rehabilitate 16 second and third-floor residential units, 14 of which will be rented at affordable levels.
“By renovating historic spaces like the Congress Theater, we are continuing to build vibrant communities and investing in our city’s arts and culture,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “I look forward to this space’s transformation and the positive impact it will have on the neighborhood, and Chicago as a whole.”
“I’m proud of the work we have done to secure the funding to revitalize Chicago’s iconic Congress Theater and create a new life for this important community space,” said Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st). “We are saving a Chicago landmark while providing good jobs, affordable housing, and small business opportunities for our community.”
Theater operations will be administered by Anshutz Entertainment Group (AEG). AEG, the current owner of the property, will transfer the theater to the developer as an in-kind contribution.
The project is expected to create 125 permanent full-time jobs and 200 construction jobs. Financing will also include more than $9M in federal historic tax credits, $16M in Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) proceeds, developer equity, bank debt, and other sources.
BR Congress and Congress Theater NFP are entities created by Baum Revision, a Chicago-based real estate developer.
The Congress Theater complex was constructed in 1926 by Fridstein and Co. in the Classical Revival and Italian Renaissance styles. It was designated an official Chicago landmark in 2002.
$27M in TIF approved for Congress Theater redevelopment
Baum closer to revamping historic theater, surrounding properties
Jul 19, 2023, 10:32 AM
By TRD Staff
Baum Revision is inching closer toward its redevelopment of the historic Congress Theater in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood thanks to the chance of a financial boost from the city.
The City Council’s Finance Committee voted unanimously to provide $27 million in tax-increment financing to help fund the project at 2135 North Milwaukee Avenue, Block Club reported. A final vote of approval is slated for July 19.
The city also approved a three-year extension of the Fullerton/Milwaukee TIF district that encompasses the property. The TIF district was set to expire next year, putting Baum’s plans in serious jeopardy, as the developer was already struggling to attain adequate funding.
Baum’s $88 million vision includes restoring the 3,500-seat theater, which has sat vacant since 2013, while revitalizing the surrounding retail space and apartments, which have also been vacant for over a decade. Once completed, the site will feature 3,000 square feet of retail and 16 apartments, with 14 of them being reserved as affordable housing, the outlet said.
While the recent TIF approval is a big win for Baum, the project presents a steep challenge for the developer. Holes in the ceiling and other structural issues have led to water damage, making the theater unsafe and driving up redevelopment costs.
Given the time, money and work needed to restore the theater, the extension of the TIF district was imperative. Normally, such districts are extended in 12-year increments, but Ald. Daniel La Spata and city officials shortened the terms so it matched up with the project.
“It is the opinion of DPD that the overall market conditions of the area would likely not warrant an extension without these extenuating circumstances,” Tim Jeffries, of the city’s Planning and Development department, told the outlet.
The Congress Theater was built in 1926 and is one of the last remaining theaters tied to the “moving picture theater” operators Lubliner & Trinz. In 2017, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2023/07/19/27m-in-tif-approved-for-congress-theater-redevelopment/
Congress Theater Redevelopment In Jeopardy As Alderman Races To Save Expiring City Funding
Ald. Daniel La Spata pushed through a proposal giving a developer more time to use $27 million in TIF funding for the ambitious project, drawing pushback from other community leaders, including Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa
8:45 AM CDT on Jun 6, 2023
- Credibility:
LOGAN SQUARE — A long-drawn-out plan to revive the decaying Congress Theater faces another major setback as the developer could lose millions in critical city funding.
Baum Revision is asking the city for $27 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) to overhaul the historical Congress Theater at 2135 N. Milwaukee Ave. and the surrounding retail shops and apartments.
Development officials have said the city funding is crucial to pulling off the $88 million project, which has struggled for years to get off the ground for financial reasons.
But now that key funding is in limbo because the Fullerton/Milwaukee TIF district, the source of that money, is set to expire next year, according to Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) and David Baum, principal of Baum Revision. TIF funds must be spent on eligible projects within a certain timeframe, or the money is no longer available.
La Spata is scrambling to save the highly-anticipated project by extending the terms of the Logan Square TIF district for another three years. The Illinois General Assembly approved a 12-year extension in late May, but La Spata said he will only request another three years on the TIF when he brings the proposal to the full City Council for final approval.
“It is not hyperbolic to say that the Congress Theater development does not happen without the extension of the TIF,” La Spata said in an interview with Block Club.
Tax-increment financing districts capture new property tax growth in a designated area for a set period of time, usually 20 years or more, and divert it into a special fund for projects designed to spur economic development and eradicate blight.
Baum said an extension is necessary because they don’t have nearly enough time to do the ambitious preservation project under the current terms of the TIF, which requires all projects using those dollars to wrap by the end of 2024.
“The approval process took us to a point where the work can’t be completed in that timeframe, and without those funds, we don’t have a project,” Baum said in an email.
The expiring city funding is the latest setback for the Congress project.
Baum’s development proposal was held up for months over a “good jobs” agreement between AEG, the theater operator, and local union UNITE HERE Local 1. Then former South Side Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza temporarily blocked the proposal over labor concerns in March.
A labor agreement has since been reached, and a key city panel is expected to vote on the plans this month, but City Council now needs to sign off on extending the TIF district for the project to move forward, La Spata said.
“We’re not seeking any more money than what’s in the redevelopment agreement — we’re only seeking more time,” the alderman said.
The scramble for city funding also comes after years of failed attempts at redevelopment and long stretches of inactivity during which many neighbors have questioned whether the Congress will ever reopen.
The city shut down the Congress in 2013 for code and safety violations after embattled former owner Eddie Carranza defaulted on $4 million in loans.
Developer Michael Moyer set out to redevelop the theater a couple years later, and even secured TIF dollars and layers of city approval, but his plans fell apart after he defaulted on $14 million in loans.
Baum took control of the project in 2021, hoping to finally restore the 2,900-seat 1920s music venue back to its former glory.
The developer’s plans also include roughly 5,400 square feet of retail and restaurant space along Milwaukee Avenue and Rockwell Street, 16 apartments and affordable offices and work space on the second and third floors. Fourteen of the apartments would be reserved as affordable housing.
Baum officials have said they’re committed to overhauling the historical venue. Beyond the delays, the theater’s worsening condition and other factors, including high interest rates, are driving up costs, Baum has said.
The renovation is now estimated to cost $88 million, up from $70.4 million last year.
“It’s been a bit of a game of whack-a-mole. Every time we think we’ve figured it out, pricing goes up,” Baum said in February.
La Spata Slammed For Lack Of Transparency
La Spata is drawing pushback from other community leaders for his handling of the expiring TIF district.
La Spata announced the extension proposal in an email newsletter to constituents in mid-May, but he should’ve held robust community meetings around the issue, said Andrew Schneider, former 1st Ward aldermanic candidate and president of Logan Square Preservation.
TIF funding is a public subsidy and is therefore a public matter, Schneider said.
“I don’t think a single paragraph in an e-newsletter is enough notice or community process. This TIF didn’t expire for another six months. We could’ve easily had some public meetings and discourse around this,” Schneider said.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), whose ward covers part of the TIF district, said La Spata approached him about the extension in April, but went ahead and sent the proposal to the state legislature without heeding his concerns, which he found disappointing.
“I said I had concerns and any such move should involve community input and a robust discussion around the rationale for extending it and what projects would be funded through the extension,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
“I told him I’d be willing to have those conversations, but I felt very strongly that we needed to speak with community groups about such an issue. And that’s where I left it, so I was shocked when I saw the news.”
Chicago’s tax-financing program has long been fraught with controversy. Many critics have argued the funding largely benefits affluent parts of the city and strips investment and resources away from the struggling communities the program intends to help.
Schneider said there’s no guarantee funding from the extended Fullerton/Milwaukee TIF district won’t go to projects that don’t serve Logan Square residents or siphon away resources from other neighborhoods that need more investment.
“This is a system which we have watched monopolize resources for wealthy communities at the expense of the rest of the city,” Schneider said. “I don’t know how our policymakers can look at Milwaukee and Fullerton and say with anything resembling honesty that the area is blighted and needs TIF.”
But La Spata said he’s asking for an extension of no more than three years explicitly for the Congress project and residents will get a chance to weigh in on how any additional dollars captured by the special taxing district should be spent.
“That’s absolutely a community conversation that should be had. But right now, the sole focus is to get that additional time that we need to complete the Congress successfully,” he said.
La Spata said he wouldn’t be requesting an extension if the Congress weren’t such a “catalytic and transformative” project.
“The interest and and the energy that it brings to Milwaukee Avenue as a whole is going to be really, really beneficial for our community,” he said. “I don’t take this lightly. Like everyone else in Chicago, I’ve been reading Ben Joravsky’s work [on TIFs] since college. I know what a fraught tool TIF can be, which is why we’re trying to be very transparent in the steps we can take. Our commitment is to do everything above board as possible.”
https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/06/06/congress-theater-redevelopment-in-jeopardy-as-alderman-races-to-save-expiring-city-funding/
$88 Million Congress Theater Redevelopment Plan Blocked By South Side Alderperson Over Labor Concerns
Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, a staunch union supporter, delayed a vote on the proposal, saying questions remain over whether the new Congress Theater will generate “quality” jobs
2:30 PM CDT on Mar 15, 2023
LOGAN SQUARE — An $88 million plan to revive the crumbling Congress Theater, the second attempt to restore the historical theater in recent years, was finally introduced in City Council Wednesday after months of false starts — then hit an immediate snag.
Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th), a staunch union supporter who represents the Southeast Side, temporarily blocked the proposal from advancing to the council’s Finance Committee, citing labor concerns. The project calls for $27 million in tax-increment finance dollars.
When the proposal was introduced at the meeting, Sadlowski Garza sent it to Rules Committee, where legislation typically goes to die.
In a written message to Block Club, Sadlowski Garza said questions remain over whether the new Congress Theater will generate “quality” jobs.
The issue has dogged the project for months. AEG, the theater operator, has been working with UNITE HERE Local 1 on a “good jobs” agreement to ensure retail and theater workers have good-paying jobs and will be protected by a union once the Congress is back up and running.
Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), whose ward includes the Congress, said in February the two groups were “very, very close” to striking a deal, but a union leader said an agreement hadn’t been reached.
RELATED: As Congress Theater Crumbles, Developer Wants $27 Million From City To Revive Logan Square Gem
Sadlowski Garza said she sent the proposal to Rules Committee so the City Council panel can determine how best to address the labor issue.
“Ensuring there is a pathway to good jobs at this development is an important aspect of evaluating this project,” she said.
La Spata, who has backed the long-stalled redevelopment, said in a written message he shares Sadlowski Garza’s view the project should create quality jobs and he’s “confident that we’ll be able to accomplish that with this agreement.”
Baum Revision, a local developer known for restoring historical buildings, is behind the ambitious Congress Theater redevelopment. The developer plans to fully restore the 2,900-seat, 1920s music venue at 2135 N. Milwaukee Ave. and surrounding retail shops and apartments.
Plans include roughly 5,400 square feet of retail and restaurant space along Milwaukee Avenue and Rockwell Street, 16 apartments and affordable offices and work space on the second and third floors. Fourteen of the apartments would be reserved as affordable housing.
Built in 1926 by Fridstein & Co., the Congress is one of the last-remaining theaters associated with famous “moving picture theater” operators Lubliner & Trinz. The theater started off hosting vaudeville acts and “photoplays” before screening movies and eventually putting on musical performances.
Years into its life as a music venue, the theater fell into disrepair and became a magnet for crime. In 2013, the city shut it down for code and safety violations after embattled former owner Eddie Carranza defaulted on $4 million in loans.
The following year, the city banned electronic dance music — the theater’s music genre of choice — for all current and future owners.
Developer Michael Moyer set out to redevelop the theater in 2015, but his plans fizzled after he was sued by Los Angeles-based lender and promoter AEG in 2020. Similar to Carranza, Moyer defaulted on $14 million in loans.
Baum is picking up where Moyer left off, hoping to secure enough financing to bring the historical theater back to life as it continues to deteriorate.
Sadlowski Garza’s move adds another step to an already-layered regulatory path for the redevelopment plan. Now, the Rules Committee will need to vote on the proposal so it can go before the Finance Committee and then to the full City Council for final approval.
A Baum official didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/03/15/88-million-congress-theater-redevelopment-plan-blocked-by-south-side-alderperson-over-labor-concerns/
As Congress Theater Crumbles, Developer Wants $27 Million From City To Revive Logan Square Gem
The price tag on the long-stalled project keeps going up, and the delays are getting longer — but developers say they’re still committed to overhauling and reopening the beloved venue.
8:00 AM CST on Feb 8, 2023
LOGAN SQUARE — Closed for a decade, the Congress Theater is a shell of the gleaming movie palace and music venue it once was.
Water is seeping into the 1920s venue, badly damaging the original structure and its ornate details. The plaster walls are crumbling, and parts of the ceiling have collapsed, scattering debris.
The theater’s worsening condition, combined with sky-high construction prices and other mounting costs, is complicating a local developer’s ambitious — and much-anticipated — plans to revive the Logan Square gem.
Baum Revision, a developer with a reputation for restoring historical buildings, was winding its way through the city approval process last year, but the Congress rehab project stalled as costs increased and negotiations around labor and other issues persisted, said David Baum, one of the managing principals.
“It’s been a bit of a game of whack-a-mole. Every time we think we’ve figured it out, pricing goes up,” Baum said. “Construction pricing has not been going in the right direction, interest rates continue to go up, getting loans is more difficult and general costs — energy or anything else — has been going up. … Pricing continues to go up while the condition of the building is not getting better.”
The project itself hasn’t changed: Baum still plans to fully restore the 2,900-seat music venue at 2135 N. Milwaukee Ave. and surrounding retail shops and apartments.
But the renovation is now estimated to cost $88 million, up from $70.4 million last year, Baum said. The development company is seeking $27 million in tax-increment finance dollars to cover a gap in funding. That’s $7 million more than developers asked for last year and $17 million more than the previous developer secured for a similar project.
Baum’s team is working closely with city officials to nail down a redevelopment agreement and secure financing as theater operator AEG Presents and local labor union UNITE HERE Local 1 battle over a “good jobs commitment.”
If everything goes according to plan, the redevelopment project could be introduced in City Council next month, setting the stage for subsequent approval, said Baum and other players, including Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), whose ward includes the Congress.
“Trying to get this thing to work is a Rubik’s Cube,” Baum said. “We feel like we’re there, we hope that the powers that be will want to get this thing passed.”
The project is delicate, partly because there’s a lot at stake. A restored Congress will transform the abandoned Milwaukee Avenue stretch and give the broader neighborhood an economic and cultural jolt, neighbors and local leaders said.
Even though Baum is inching toward construction, some are worried the project is doomed after a series of setbacks.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned like everyone else is,” Baum said.
A ‘Really Substantial Rehab’
Baum’s project includes a rehabbed theater, roughly 5,400 square feet of retail and restaurant space along Milwaukee Avenue and Rockwell Street, 16 apartments and affordable offices and work space on the second and third floors. Fourteen of the apartments will be reserved as affordable housing.
The city’s Community Development Commission approved allocating $20 million in tax-increment financing toward the project last year, but the proposal never advanced to City Council.
After some adjustments, it seemed the revised proposal was finally headed for City Council in January with the support of Mayor Lori Lightfoot. But city officials pulled the proposal off the agenda at the last minute, La Spata said.
It also was yanked from the agenda of February’s council meeting, La Spata said.
One key issue holding up the project is the labor agreement between AEG, the theater operator, and UNITE HERE Local 1, La Spata said. Hospitality workers with the labor union are pushing AEG and the city to put a “good jobs commitment” in writing.
“UNITE HERE Local 1 opposes the use of TIF or any public subsidy for the Congress Theater redevelopment because there is no commitment from AEG that all hospitality jobs created by the redevelopment will be good jobs,” union spokesperson Elliott Mallen said in an email.
AEG didn’t respond to requests for comment. Baum said his company is not involved in labor negotiations.
La Spata, who’s involved in negotiations, said the two sides are “very, very close” to striking a deal. If the agreement is finalized, the redevelopment proposal — and the $27 million tax-increment financing allocation — will be introduced into City Council, then voted on by the finance committee and all 50 alderpeople.
La Spata and Baum hope the project will finally hit City Council in March.
“We’re working on something that’s going to have a generational impact in Logan Square, and if that means it takes a few more months to get it right, I think that’s worthwhile,” La Spata said.
In Chicago, using tax-increment financing to support large projects is often controversial.
Tax-increment financing districts capture all growth in the property tax base in a designated area for a set period of time, usually 20 years or more, and divert it into a special fund for projects designed to spur economic development and eradicate blight.
City Council’s approval of $2 billion in tax-increment financing for megadevelopments Lincoln Yards and The 78 sparked protests and lawsuits.
Proponents of Baum’s Congress proposal said the $27 million the company wants is justifiable given the project’s large scale, the poor condition of the theater and rising development costs during the pandemic.
Aside from the lobby, which is in reasonably good shape, the entire theater is a “gut job,” Baum said. It needs a new roof, new electrical and plumbing systems and extensive preservation work, he said.
“We’re talking about a project that is practically a city block long, multiple buildings, a 3,000-person theater. It does not surprise me that we’re facing a really substantial rehab,” La Spata said.
“I 100 percent would not be supporting this [redevelopment] process if I didn’t feel like it came with robust and generous benefits for our community and that it was going to also have a truly catalytic effect in terms of activating some of the spaces around the Congress that we want to see get going.”
La Spata has represented the 1st Ward since 2019 and is running for reelection against three challengers, including former 1st Ward Ald. Proco Joe Moreno.
The Congress Theater was built in 1926 by Fridstein & Co. as an ornate movie palace.
One of the last remaining theaters associated with famous “moving picture theater” operators Lubliner & Trinz, the venue hosted vaudeville acts and “first-run photoplays” for years, then screened movies through the ’80s.
The Congress later was refashioned into a music venue, drawing famous musicians and performers such as Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. It was designated a city landmark in 2002.
The city ordered the theater closed in 2013 following a string of code violations and years of negligence from embattled former owner Eddie Carranza.
The move also came after a series of crimes that occurred in and around the theater during shows, including the rape of a 14-year-old girl. The city banned electronic dance music — the theater’s former music genre of choice — for all current and future owners.
Developer Michael Moyer stepped in to reopen the Congress in 2015. After years of community meetings and a multi-layered city approval process, Los Angeles-based lender and promoter AEG sued Moyer in 2020, alleging the developer defaulted on $14 million in loans. The legal trouble left the theater in the control of a court-appointed receiver.
Baum took the reins of the project in 2021. The development firm is known for restoring the Green Exchange and Margies Candies buildings, among other historical buildings.
The Congress has “been a hole in the community for a long time, but it used to be the center of the community for a long time. That’s what we enjoy doing — reimagining and bringing back things from the dead,” Baum said.
More photos from a recent tour:
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https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/02/08/as-congress-theater-crumbles-developer-wants-27m-from-city-to-revive-logan-square-gem/
Legal hurdles cleared for Congress Theater redevelopment
By Jim DeRogatis
Jan 12, 2015, 6:51pm CT
** UPDATED 10 a.m. TUESDAY
Nearly a year after this blog first reported that renowned developer Michael Moyer was poised to purchase the troubled Congress Theater—and after 12 months of legal wrangling bogging down the sale—Cook County Circuit Court has removed the final hurdles, and Moyer and Ald. “Proco” Joe Moreno (1st) will hold a press conference on Jan. 24 to announce new plans for the 89-year-old, 3,500-seat Logan Square landmark.
Moyer is best known in Chicago for redeveloping the decrepit Bismarck Theater, transforming it into the Cadillac Palace. Just steps from City Hall, that theater has hosted prestigious Chicago productions including The Producers, Aida, MAMA MIA, The Lion King, and Kinky Boots. The theater is the centerpiece of a $120 million development that also includes the Bismarck Hotel. According to the bio online with PalMet Ventures, where he is a managing member, Moyer also has had a hand in development projects in Iraq.
Said a statement from Moreno’s office: “This long-overdue rehabilitation project [at the Congress] will not only renovate the theater’s historic lobby and auditorium, it will also include the improvement of the ground floor commercial spaces and the modernization of the above-grade residential units into a small inn and residences.”
Moyer will work with Woodhouse Tinucci Architects and W.E. O’Neil Construction, according to the statement.
Following a series of contentious city hearings about numerous public safety, building code, and liquor violations, which began to mount after a sexual assault outside the theater in January 2012, controversial venue owner Erineo “Eddie” Carranza finally gave up his fight to maintain ownership of the Congress in January 2014. At that time, he signed a contract for the sale to Moyer, and accepted a payment of $500,000 in earnest money.
Although Carranza talked often and at length about his ambitious plans for the Congress, no serious redevelopment at the crumbling theater had taken place, and the venue has been shuttered to major events since the spring of 2013.
Closing on the sale and moving ahead on the redevelopment were slowed by two competing claims from concert promoters contending that they had the right of first refusal to buy the venue should Carranza sell. Sources say the oldest claim, by Chicago-based Jam Productions, was resolved with relative ease. But React Presents, the local electronic dance music promoters who subsequently sold out to the giant national corporation SFX, pressed the fight in court.
“The litigation thing is arduous,” Moyer told this blog with a sigh of frustration last June.
** The ruling could not be obtained last night, but sources familiar with its contents say that Moyer’s settlements with both Jam and React/SFX have been approved by the court. Moyer now is the uncontested owner is set to close on the property in the next 60 to 90 days, and to move ahead with a redevelopment plan supported by Moreno and other city officials.
The specifics of entertainment offerings at the Congress will likely remain a mystery until the press conference, and Moyer declined to comment Monday evening. But theater may be part of the mix, along with music. “Moyer will apply his expertise to the Congress to reestablish its reputation as one of the finest music venues in the nation,” according to the statement from Moreno’s office.
That may even include electronic dance music. As this blog observed, the much-publicized restrictions placed by the city upon the Congress prohibiting EDM were aimed not at that musical genre or even at that specific venue, but at Carranza as an irresponsible operator who racked up dozens of complaints.
Sources say it also was a tactic to prod React/SFX out of prolonging its legal fight. Rather than the city being anti-EDM, the move was pro-Congress, one source said. And React/SFX has been doing a thriving business at other venues with full city approval, ranging from the Concord Music Hall and the Mid to the city-owned Soldier Field, where it hosts the massive Spring Awakening Festival.
While some Logan Square residents initially rallied to Carranza’s side during the early days of his long fight with city agencies, that support eroded as the details of the complaints against him were aired at public hearings. These ranged from security guards accused of seizing drugs from concertgoers, then reselling them to other patrons, to “hazardous and dangerous” building code violations unremedied for months, including standing water near bare electrical wires and non-functioning fire exits.
At least one longtime resident is supporting Moyer’s plans. “I am excited that the new owners have the security of the neighborhood in mind first, and that we will have a true safe and secure music venue in our neighborhood,” Rick Sada is quoted as saying in the Moreno statement. “I am also excited that Eddie Carranza will no longer be part of the Congress. For too long he got away with numerous criminal and building violations and I am glad Ald. Moreno helped us rid him of our neighborhood and is working with a new, truly viable owner.”
The full text of the statement from Moreno’s office follows. Meanwhile, Carranza is not yet entirely out of the theater game. He still owns the smaller Portage Theater in Portage Park, which is being leased by Charlie Burns, the former venue manager under Carranza at the Congress.
While Carranza’s plans for another ambitious development surrounding the Portage on the Northwest Side have so far come to little, the theater has been presenting a mix of film and music for several months now, and the office of Ald. John Arena (45th) reports that there have been no complaints from residents.
January 12, 2015
New Congress LLC, Chicago and Alderman Proco Joe Moreno, 1st Ward
For Immediate Release
New Congress LLC and Alderman Proco Joe Moreno (1st Ward) are pleased to announce the upcoming revitalization of the Congress Theater, a City of Chicago Landmark located at 2135 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square. This long-overdue rehabilitation project will not only renovate the theater’s historic lobby and auditorium, it will also include the improvement of the ground floor commercial spaces and the modernization of the above-grade residential units into a small inn and residences. The residences will be truly affordable residences under the City’s Affordable Housing Ordinance- a request made by Alderman Moreno of Congress LLC.
Michael Moyer, manager of New Congress, LLC, will lead the project. Mr. Moyer, one of the early pioneers in the revitalization of Chicago’s Loop, renovated the block adjacent to City Hall, including the historic Cadillac Palace Theater, which received a Distinguished Building Award from the American Institute of Architects Chicago (AIA Chicago) with Special Recognition for Historic Preservation. Mr. Moyer has brought together an experienced and award-winning team with deep roots in the City of Chicago, including Woodhouse Tinucci Architects as the project’s architect, W.E. O’Neil Construction as general contractor and MacRostie Historic Advisors.
Mr. Moyer will apply his expertise to The Congress to reestablish its reputation as one of the finest music venues in the nation. The renovation will draw on the diverse history and culture of the neighborhood and the innate character of the architecture.
The venue, which the City closed two years ago for dozens of unaddressed violations, originally opened in 1926 as a movie palace. Eventually it grew to host such diverse musical acts as Chuck Barry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lauryn Hill, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Billy Idol, Toots and the Maytals, ZZ Top, Zoe’, and Weezer. Under New Congress LLC’s direction, the theater will once again host live music performances, managed by an experienced operator with local insight and national presence. Eddie Carranza, former owner of the Congress, will have no part, legally or otherwise, in the future of the Congress Theater.
Alderman Moreno worked closely with the City’s Departments of Buildings and Business Affairs to address the long-running problems of mismanagement and disrepair at the Congress Theater.
After scores of meetings and inquiries from parties interested in taking over the Congress Theater, Alderman Moreno is thrilled that New Congress LLC has been able to secure the property by contract and facilitate the resolution of litigation that has kept the theater dark.
Rick Sada, lifelong community resident who lives near the Congress Theater and participated in the fight to close it down stated: “ I am excited that the new owners have the security of the neighborhood in mind first, and that we will have a true safe and secure music venue in our neighborhood. I am glad Alderman Moreno helped us rid the previous owner from our neighborhood and is working with a new, truly viable owner.”
Alderman Moreno is confident that New Congress, LLC will fully realize the potential of the Congress property and return it back to its full glory. He is equally confident that this renovation will also lead to a dynamic resurgence of this stretch of Milwaukee Avenue. Alderman Moreno stated, “I am very excited about the future of the new Congress Theater. When completed, the new Congress Theater will be a world-class entertainment and commercial venue that our community will be very proud of. Just as important, this new theater owner, Mr. Moyer, will be a responsive and responsible owner and a true community partner.”
Alderman Moreno and New Congress, LLC will host an Open House for the community to tour the Congress Theater on January 24, 2015 from 1-4 pm. Refreshments and light snackswill be served.
