Initial details have been revealed for the upcoming expansion to the popular Salt Shed music complex at 1459 North Magnolia Avenue in West Town. Having opened the Salt Shed back in 2023 to great success, owners Blue Star Properties have been looking to expand into the large vacant lot across the street from the existing venues.
Existing Salt Shed (green) – Upcoming expansion (red) via Google Maps
Back in 2025, Crain’s reported the potential purchase of the lot by the Salt Shed owners, with an estimated cost of $60 to $70 million to develop the property. Now, along with hospitality company 16” on Center, the team has submitted zoning plans to the city for the 10-acre site, which will hold concerts and potentially small festivals.
Landscaping plan of Salt Shed Expansion
Plans would begin with the removal of Blackhawk Street in exchange for a large plaza to connect the two sites; this road is currently closed during events already for queuing and security checks for the two existing venues. The plaza would connect to a new publicly accessible riverwalk and boat dock to the north, running along the waterfront.
Site map of Salt Shed Expansion
Directly north of the plaza will be the new venue, with an undisclosed capacity but previously mentioned to hold up to 15,000 people. The amphitheater-style facility will hold three separate sloping grass-covered seating structures capped by large general admission standing decks. Leading to the stage would be a large lawn area with a central bar.
A small section of assigned seating would sit in between the bar and the stage, with elevated staggered VIP seating sections along the west end of the venue. New restrooms and guest facilities would be included, with a small courtyard building set behind the stage for artist changing rooms, along with a small production facility building.
Elevations of Salt Shed Expansion
Behind this will be a large loading dock for production vehicles and venue supplies, accessed from Magnolia. This will be joined by a large parking lot with over 100 spaces. While not many more details or a timeline are known, the team will need full approval and plenty of infrastructure work prior to vertical construction.
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In exchange for closing Blackhawk (which is fine) and adding 100 surface parking spots (which I question), I’d like to get a pedestrian/bike bridge across the north branch at Blackhawk.
Why? You are already getting a bike path on Division next year from I90 all the way east to at least Orleans and back.
Yes I used to live in that area. The lack of a bridge mid block makes for a very long walk to get over to Goose Island, both north of Division and south of it.
Zoom in on the blueprint. There is a “potential future pedestrian bridge” marked on it at Blackhawk.
For the 12 people who will ride their bikes there.
Well, perhaps they can find a spot to park your horse and buggy, gramps.
Agree let’s look at reality it Saturday night ,your on a date to see some good music,paid $$ for tickets,the weather is well it Chicago….You are 🚫 Riding bikes
Looking at reality, I don’t think Deb was requesting a bridge that would only be open on concert nights.
Ped bridge to the east side of the river at Weed or Eastman or Blackhawk would be a nice thing, too, but each would rely on Waste Management property on Goose Island.
That would be pretty nice. Elston feels like an endless street. Crossing on Division kind of stinks and North Ave is better but out of the way. A Pedestrian Bridge in-between would be lavish.
The Congress Theatre, meanwhile, will continue to languish
It’s a free market, of course, so people should be able to build concert/event spaces and let competition thrive, but…….I do worry that these new spaces in the city will only further put the prospects of renovating the Congress and Uptown Theatres further in the hole.
Dallas and Houston and other Sunbelt cities can build sundry things like this. But none of them have anything that resembles Chicago’s grand old movie palaces that are deteriorating year after year
You’re welcome to fund it.
I mean this with all seriousness, why not be part of the solution you seek? Get in contact with the owner of these theaters and help them continue to fund raise the millions needed to do it. Once they have the money it can happen.
Yes, but like anybody else I don’t want to throw my money into a hole, if the alternative is an index fund that will grow and allow me to rely on it at old age.
Even if the funding to renovate these theatres existed, what appears to be holding them back is a viable business plan to recoup the investment. A HUGE element of that business plan is bookings.
Can they book shows regularly?
Well, there are only so many touring acts out there, and the more live music/entertainment venues Chicago builds, the lower the prospect that a future restored Congress Theatre will be able to secure enough bookings to justify the investment.
That is the issue, and that is probably a big reason why both theatres continue to deteriorate
So your proposal sums up as “no building of new venues until all the old boarded-up ones have been successfully restored”…SMDH. What a great way to help a great city whither and die.
look i’m all for saving the old theaters, but you clearly think investing in them would be a bad idea for you personally. why should anyone else take the same risk that you are unwilling to take?
If Congress Theatre was a viable economic opportunity, it would have been redeveloped years ago, or decades ago at this point. Only workable with government handouts, sadly. And even then it’s questionable.
Jam Productions was all ready to fund renovation of the Uptown for use as a live music venue. The community fought them down, apparently preferring that someone renovate the Uptown so it could . . . be available for tours? Yet another major investment that would have paid lots of taxes and employed all sorts of people that our dysfunctional city government snuffed out.
That is not at all what happened with JAM and the Uptown.
Uptown and Congress absolutely need full attention and effort to fund and restore. I am glad to see the Salt Shed growth and success, hope this can fuel some restoration funding.
ATTN: The Uptown Theater is on the Open House Chicago tour list this weekend. So go and have a glimpse inside. It’s been closed since 1980. Not so great of a condition for sure.
1981
This city can accommodate entertainment venues new, expanding, and historic. This post is timely given Open House at Uptown Theatre lines past Berwyn this morning and members line on Lawrence stretching toward Andersonville. Hoping this interest will generate action. I’ve lived in Uptown 25 years and a year doesn’t seem to pass without rumor the money is there. i was fortunate to see it at a certain mayoral candidate event. it’s pretty amazing and worth preserving, particularly given all of Uptown’s existing entertainment venues.
An opportunity to create a gorgeous outdoor along the Chicago River and we get this? A weak poorly designed outdoor venue that only further incentivizes a developing concert-going experience that is continually unattainable for the average citizen. Another example of developers designing spaces to maximize profits over maximizing customer experience. Also another future section of riverwalk that Salt Shed will privatize and prevent the public for accessing while it is required to keep it open with financial support they’ve received from the city? Hire a real design firm instead of this developer slop.
The city needs tax money ,this venue will be a cash cow.so it can finace public services
What on earth are you talking about? The riverbank isn’t being privatized. The plans distinctly show a public riverwalk. The Chicago River Design Guidelines apply to the entire river system within the city limits. As for whatever else you’re going on about, it’s an outdoor venue. What do you expect?
I was initially struck (and annoyed) by the parking count, but looking at it the space use is about that of the vacated Blackhawk and Le Moyne right-of-ways which are already car infrastructure. At least it’ll be landscaped and cars will need to move slowly. Can we show some bike parking too?!
Really it brings back to mind for me that there isn’t a great transit connection to this venue. It was definitely something I remember from the one time I’ve been. Yes, Ashland and Division are nearby, and so is the UP-NW. But the 70 doesn’t run super late, the Metra is hourly at best late nights, and all 3 are a walk. In the dark more people are hesitant to walk, and biking is riskier because of drivers, so lots of folks (I assume) lean towards driving or ride hail services. So, would be nice to see some solution there.
I would be curious to see the truck turning template for the proposed design… wouldn’t be surprised to see those nice tight traffic calming curves get tossed if they haven’t been drawn accurately to what a semi will need for access…
Where do they expect people to park?
The parking lot presumably. If you’re not happy with this amount of parking, you won’t be happy with any realistic development here
This is great for the CIty on all accounts. The developers did a great job creating the Salt Shed. Love the boat docks, too. Build it!
Anyone worried about parking, doesn’t live in the city, and they will complain about lack of parking or cost of parking no matter what and no matter where. People who actually live in the city, and who are the majority of the users of these facilities know how to navigate getting to and from these venues without cars. The absolute biggest issue here is the bridge work and how the Chicago Ave bridge is going to be closed for the next year, and the Division Ave bridge is about to be closed for the next year or two…parking for suburbanites coming into city for parent’s night out isn’t the issue…physically getting over the river and to the venue when every bridge is closed is going to be the bigger problem.
These drawings are contradictory to each other, the top down views show grass areas and standing room, and then the cross section shows a building with restrooms underneath and rooftop viewing on top. Also, can we get images that we can click on and zoom in on, half the text on the drawings is illegible and can’t be deciphered. As someone who lives 5 blocks from here, I truly believe this neighborhood wants/needs this expansion, but right now this feels like the beginning of every other scam that has been played out over the last 30 years on this neighborhood.
Click and save the image as a jpeg, gramps.
While I agree the section cut is confusing, you have to look at where it is on the plan. There is a little square that is cut into the sloped green roof to serve as an entrance to the building, and that is where the section is cut through. I’m also not sure why they don’t show a section that is actually cut through the sloped greenroof, but the drawings are not contridictory. The grassy areas are on top of the building.
This has to go down as one of the most innovative developments of an old industrial building
The whole Uptown and Congress comparison is way off course. Year round seating in these venues is 3500 and 4500 respectively while outdoor seasonal limited seating at the shed is 5k with expanded seating at 3 times that. If anything the Salt Shed will be in competition with venues that use public parks for outdoor music fests. The is a solution to the parks being unusable for weeks or months at a time while sod is being re-laid to fix field damage: see the recent damage due to the downpour during Riotfest. Either parks or salt shed, the city will continue to get their cut of ticket sales.