The idea was to create a theater district along the lines of London’s or New York’s, but being Chicago, we had to do it in our own unique manner (“Can this Outsider Save the Loop?”).
Thus, before the anchor project, a $32 million restoration of the Oriental Theater, could get underway, accusations began to circulate that City Hall had greased the path with “back-room deals” that favored friends of Mayor Richard M. Daley and shortchanged others, and that the whip was being cracked by the law firm of none other than the mayor’s own brother, Michael.
At the heart of the matter was the historic Oliver Building on North Clark Street, whose south flank abuts the rear of the Oriental, 24 W. Randolph St.
When Toronto-based arts titan Garth H. Drabinsky first expressed interest in redoing the Oriental, he and his architects noted they would need to deepen the stage of the elegant old movie house,.
The Oriental has been shuttered since 1980. A larger stage would enable it to accommodate the kind of lavish musical extravaganzas (“Showboat”, “Phantom of the Opera”) that Drabinsky puts on in his chain of palatial theaters in Canada and the U.S.
To enlarge the stage, it would be necessary to break through the rear wall and essentially gut the Oliver Building.
Thus did the city, in its zeal to redevelop the North Loop as an entertainment district, condemn the Oliver Building and convey it to Drabinsky’s company, Livent Inc.
The only problem: The Oliver’s old owner, attorney Peter Palivos, felt the city’s offer of $2.4 million was too meager and he questioned its right to acquire the building under “quick take” powers that let it take a building first and settle the price issue later.
Just before Christmas, the Illinois Appellate Court upheld the city’s action. Palivos says he will take the case to the Illinois Supreme Court, but the issue may be moot.
Livent has already punched through the wall separating the building and is quickly turning the Oliver into a seven-story shell.
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“We’re going full-speed,” reports Chicago architect Dan Coffey, who is heading the project (Coffey’s firm also restored the Chicago Theatre and is currently redoing the Bismarck Hotel and theater) “The Oliver is almost all gone.”
Both Coffey and Livent’s point man, Peter Kofman, say the project will have no trouble meeting its completion date, to allow Livent to open its hit musical “Ragtime” in the Oriental in late October.
“We lost a few days over the legal issues, but we’ve made them up and are where we want to be,” says Kofman.
Other signs that the North Loop theater district is at last going to happen: The Goodman Theatre has officially announced that it will relocate to Dearborn Street between Randolph and Lake Streets, where it will create a $53 million theater complex that will include the landmark Harris and Selwyn Theaters.
The Bismarck theater project, meanwhile, is well off the ground.