Lookingglass’ new location, location, location

Outside of Manhattan, Chicago’s Michigan Avenue commands among the most expensive real-estate rents in the country. According to a recent survey by Cushman and Wakefield Inc., street-level retail space on the high-profile shopping way currently goes for about $300 a square foot.

As one might expect, exorbitant costs ensure there are no non-profit theaters in the prime shopping territory on 5th Avenue in New York.

But there soon will be one smack in the heart of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.

Thanks to the largesse of the City of Chicago — and the close personal interest of cultural affairs commissioner Lois Weisberg — the Lookingglass Theatre Company will take up residence in a new $5.5 million, two-theater complex located inside the historic Water Tower Waterworks, currently the scene of extensive construction. The theater originally was projected to open somewhat sooner, but will now be ready by next spring. The official opening is scheduled for June 14.

Carving out its niche

Long associated with the actor David Schwimmer and Tony Award winning director Mary Zimmerman, Lookingglass has carved a niche over the past decade of doing theatrical adaptations of non-dramatic works, and placing an emphasis on theater involving extensive movement and circus skills. Its current production, “Hard Times,” recently was extended through Dec. 15 at the Ruth Page Center, 1016 N. Dearborn St.

Many of its longtime performers are currently on Broadway in Zimmerman’s production of “Metamorphoses,” which was first performed in Chicago by Lookingglass. And despite his fame as a member of the cast of “Friends,” Schwimmer remains intensively involved in the troupe

If Lookingglass were paying a true economic rent for its new 16,000-square-foot facility in the pumping station, it would be spending millions of dollars per month ($4.8 million if you do the math and ignore the discounting that can go on in real estate deals).

It has signed a 10-year lease with the City of Chicago, with an option to extend for a further 10 years. The rent is $1 per year.

“I’m looking forward to the first neighborhood bake sale,” says Jacqueline Russell, Lookingglass’ executive director.

One can see why. Directly to the north is the Water Tower shopping mall. Just to the south is the Neiman Marcus department store.

One could argue with some foundation that Lookingglass has snagged the best location of any theater in the country. According to a 1999 survey conducted by the Chicago Department of Transportation, 32,300 people will walk past the new front door to the Lookingglass Theatre at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Pearson Street on a typical weekday.

On weekends, that number climbs to 42,500.

And that’s not even counting the people strolling by on the other side of the street.

John Morris, the architect of the new theater, said his decision to put the entrance on the corner of Michigan and Pearson was a way of restoring the historic building to its original form while creating the strongest visibility.

A sense of history

When the building housed the “Here’s Chicago” tourist attraction in the 1990s, the entrance was farther east on Pearson.

“There was a drawing we found from 1909,” Morris said, as he toured the new facility with a reporter. “It says that a door was turned into a window at that location. We’re going to return it to its original use as an entrance.”

According to the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association, the corner of Michigan and Pearson is the busiest intersection along the entire length of the famed shopping boulevard.

“It’s a fabulous location,” says Camille Julmy, the chairman of the board of the association. “And it’s a great use for that facility.”

Not only has Lookingglass snagged a remarkable break on its rent, but much of the cost of the build-out has come from public funds. Of the $5.2 million projected capital cost, $1.5 million came directly from the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and $1.5 million from the State of Illinois’ Illinois FIRST fund, a project of lame-duck Gov. George Ryan. Lookingglass has raised the rest from numerous donors, including Marshall Field’s, the Polk Bros. Foundation and Schwimmer himself. It’s currently in the midst of a capital campaign aimed to cover the projected increase running costs. Since 1999, Lookingglass’ operating budget has gone to $2.2 million from about $800,000 per year. And its staff has doubled.

Strong mayoral support

The desire to turn this space into a theater began with Mayor Richard Daley’s unhappiness with “Here’s Chicago,” an attraction that emphasized Chicago’s gangster past and featured much ado about Al Capone.

With the mayor determined to rid the street of what he saw as a blight with a long-term lease, Daley charged Weisberg with figuring out a solution. Once “Here’s Chicago” finally had been evicted, Weisberg found herself with an empty building and a mayoral edict.

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“I kept looking up at the height of the ceiling and wondering which would be the right group for the space,” Weisberg recalled.

Lookingglass, an itinerant company without its own theater, had been meeting with Weisberg as part of its quest for a new home. And although there subsequently was a formal request for proposals put out by the city, it was pretty clear from the start who was going to get the pumping station.

“It turned out,” Weisberg said, “that Lookingglass had the wherewithal to do this.”

The new theater has some particular challenges. The building continues to be an active waterworks, so Morris has spent a lot of time on soundproofing. (He says he’s confident no one will hear a thing inside either the main black-box theater or the 50-seat studio upstairs.) Security has also been a vexing issue–given the city’s nervousness about allowing public access in a building that controls much of the water piped to Chicago’s North Side.

Thus, patrons for the theater will be able to see the old machinery through translucent walls being constructed around the new entry, but they’ll be kept well away from the machinery.

More capacity needed

The lack of space in the building has limited Lookingglass to a black-box theater that will seat only 225 to 275 people (depending on the configuration used). For commercial purposes, that’s too small a capacity for most producers. But Lookingglass artistic director Laura Eason says it “serves our work very well.” And when the Department of Cultural Affairs needs space for events, Lookingglass will, of course, be obliging them. Russell also says the troupe hopes to present and nurture smaller Chicago theater companies.

Within the theater community at large, there’s some envy that this group has snagged such a stellar new location. But the quality of Lookingglass’ work is very well regarded.

“I’ve long admired the way they manage their ability to grow while maintaining their artistic integrity,” said Roche Schulfer, executive director of the Goodman Theatre.

Come June, Lookingglass will have its own, full-time box office.

“I think” said Russell, erring on the side of understatement, “that we may find that we get some walk-up business.”