A potential groundbreaking date has been announced for the Congress Theater redevelopment in Logan Square. Located at 2135 N Milwaukee Avenue, the news comes as the Commission on Chicago Landmarks approves Class L tax incentives for the project. We last covered the project a year ago as it gained approval for TIF funds from the city.
Current view of Congress Theater via Google Maps
The redevelopment efforts are being led by developer Baum Revision and have been years in the making. Local firm Woodhouse Tinucci Architects worked on the design to revitalize the iconic theater that dates back to 1926. The 3,500-seat movie house originally contained apartments and retail, most of which have sat vacant since it closed in 2013.
Street View of Congress Theater. Rendering by Woodhouse Tinucci Architects
Now plans call for a full restoration of the theater as a performance venue operated by AEG for at least 10 years per city requirement, marking the first Chicago venue for the Los Angeles based company. This will include an extensive repair and restoration of the front facade, marquee, storefronts, interior historical features, and bringing the building up to code.
Interior View of Congress Theater. Rendering by Woodhouse Tinucci Architects
Lobby View of Congress Theater. Rendering by Woodhouse Tinucci Architects
The ground floor will also hold 13,000 square feet of restored retail spaces split into multiple store fronts. Of that, 75 percent of the space will need to be continuously occupied and leased to locally-owned businesses, community organizations, or local artists, with all the spaces offered at 75 percent of the local market rate per city requirement as of last year’s update.
View of Congress Theater. Rendering by Woodhouse Tinucci Architects
Surrounding the theater on the upper levels will be 16 residential all of which will be considered affordable, with the rest of the space going to back of house and offices. The project will cost around $88 million, partially funded by $27 million in TIF money, and now $6.2 million in tax abatement over 12 years.
If all is fully approved by the city, the developer hopes to break ground in the first quarter of 2025, completing the work by December 2026.
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This is great news for this neighborhood.
What has been a black hole will become a dynamic and positive influence in this rundown stretch of the Milwaukee Corridor.
Hooray!
Great news. Lets hope this doesn’t fail due to any circumstance.
Now let;s do the Uptown Theater.
Ditto! You beat me that this comment!
17th time is the charm!
Great news.
The sad part is that all these years while landmark status and tax incentives were negotiated, all the affordable apartments in the Congress Theater have been sitting empty- at a time when they were so desperately needed.
double the timeline and double to budget
I’ve read so many of these stories about the congress over the last 15 years
My goodness this project should have been finished by now. Let’s keep our fingers crossed until it is.
Shouldn’t be given TIF money. Tax credits or some kind of tax cuts sure.
The funding structure should be without tiff support and independant of the surrounding real estate taxes.