[As 2023 winds down, 5 Mag is looking over some stories that deserved more attention this year and which will likely be pivotal stories in 2024.]
Nearly everyone who was once a kid in this city can remember an infamous night at Chicago’s venerable Congress Theater, the Milwaukee Avenue live music venue which has been closed for almost a decade.
Now, after many starts and stops, it seems there is a real chance the Congress might re-open — perhaps in time for its 100th birthday in 2026.
Designed by architects Fridstein & Co, the Congress in Logan Square is regarded as one of the last remaining “movie palaces” from the golden age. The 4,500 capacity auditorium had been transformed into a live music venue decades ago, providing Chicago with an intermediate-sized venue that could support national touring acts as well as local concerts and special events.
Once praised by architectural critics for its ornate lobby and gorgeous ceilings, the Congress Theater has been closed for the last ten years, becoming an eyesore and even a public safety hazard.
What happened, and will it ever come back?
When the Congress Banned Electronic Music.
Granted landmark status nearly 25 years ago, the Congress had been in desperate need for a rehab when the city in 2013 issued an emergency motion to then-owner Eddie Carranza, citing dangerous faults with the venue’s electrical system and other code violations. Later the city revoked the venue’s liquor license, effectively shutting it down.
There were other problems, too. Neighbors complained about the behavior of the venue’s patrons and the inadequate security provided by Congress management. On New Year’s Eve 2011, an 18 year old patron who had been denied entry for a show featuring DJ Rusko was found bleeding and unconscious after a violent sexual assault by a group of teenage boys, later convicted for criminal sexual abuse and robbery. Some even pointed the finger at the building’s security, with ravers and ticket-buyers decrying the “Congress Crime Ring” that were supposedly “notorious for abusing people who pay money to see a live show.”
In a controversial move, the local liquor commissioner and Carranza entered into an agreement that would ban all electronic music events from the Congress upon its reopening. The 2014 agreement banned any “performance of electronic dance music or any performance by a DJ or multiple DJs featured the playing of prerecorded music.” A loophole allowed acts to play pre-recorded music so long as a vocalist or musician played along with it.
The Congress never re-opened, so the deal was never implemented. Carranza announced several potential buyers for the Congress before a contract for its sale was signed with developer Michael Moyer.
Endless Reboots, Endless Problems, Rising Estimates.
Chicago music journalist Jim DeRogatis announced that Moyer had struck a deal with Carranza to buy and rehab the Congress Theatre in 2014. (The story is no longer online, but an archive exists here.) Moyer was “best known for restoring to its full 1920s glory the Loop showplace now known as the Cadillac Palace,” a venue owned by the Wirtz family (owners of the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team). The Cadillac Palace was formerly known as the Bismarck and was a place with an outsized place in house music history in its own right. Lil Louis made the Bismarck his home; here’s a flyer from Martin Luna’s flyer collection as published in Beyond Heaven Volume III from Almighty & Insane Publishing:
(Read more about Beyond Heaven and Mario Luna here.)
At the time it was shut down, officials and ownership groups were quoted stating that the Congress would require “upwards of $20 million” in funds to get up to code and rehab the building. Under the leadership of Moyer, that number increased to $69 million.
In 2015, Moyer announced the rehab and redevelopment of the Congress site to include apartments and a speakeasy and hotel, to open in 2017. In 2017, the Chicago Tribune said Moyer’s team planned to reopen the building in 2019. And less than a year after missing that date, the owners were sued by sports and entertainment giant AEG Presents for allegedly defaulting on $14 million in loans with an additional $10 million in fees and interest tacked on.
A receiver appointed by the courts after the lawsuit was filed took control of the Congress in late 2020, citing continued deterioration of the property.
New Developers, New Developments.
It was nearly three years ago that local developer Baum Revision took over the project. Aided by 1st Ward Alderman Daniel La Spata, Baum began working with Moyer’s former partner, AEG Presents, who called Baum “the right developer” for the project.
La Spata helped press city financing for the Congress redevelopment, with a cost estimate that has now escalated to $88 million. The Chicago City Council approved allocating $27 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) funds to Baum for the Congress restoration (Moyer’s group had previously been approved for $9.7 in TIF funds, during Rahm Emanuel’s tenure as mayor, but the deal never closed and the funds were never distributed). Stipulations on the deal include a commitment by AEG Presents to operate the venue for at least 10 years after opening, according to Block Club Chicago.
(TIFs are complicated and controversial public financing schemes. They set aside growing property tax revenues for future projects in a specific geographic area. TIFs are time-limited; the Illinois General Assembly and then the City Council were required to extend the life of the particular TIF that the Congress redevelopment project is drawing money from, which would have otherwise expired. Critics say TIF funds unfairly pull public revenue from schools and public services and redirect them to projects usually headed by well-heeled real estate developers, while also concentrating the benefits derived from tax revenues in already-wealthy neighborhoods.)
When the full City Council approved the deal last July, the state of the Congress Theater itself was somewhere between “decaying” and “terrifying.” Unable to pass building code inspections in 2013, parts of the roof have since collapsed and there was a real fear that parts of the building might harm pedestrians on Milwaukee Avenue. Scaffolding, which suggested imminent construction, had actually been put in place to protect anyone below from pieces of the building falling off.
The increase in the project’s budget is allegedly tied to what ten years of neglect has done to the building. The City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development stated that the building was no longer safe enough for the general public to enter at all. (More optimistically, photos from 2023 show the building’s ornate lobby appears to be in great condition.)
The new plan by Baum is somewhat downscaled from Moyer’s lofty vision of a nearby residential tower. The redevelopment plan approved by the City Council calls for 13,000 square feet of retail space on Milwaukee Avenue (and a commitment for it to be rented to local businesses), nearly twice as much office space for rent and just 16 residential units.
The Congress Theater has been “saved” more times over the last decade than you can count. Each time, greed, lack of financing or poor planning put the venue (and people walking near it) at risk. Maybe 2024 will be different; if not, there’s always that 100th anniversary coming in 2026.
Photo via artistmac on Flickr.
