The gorgeous 1920s-era Congress Theater might open back up if Michael Moyer has anything to do with it. He’s leading the charge in a $65 million renovation that will start sometime in the next three to four months. One of the best parts about the renovation is that most of it won’t be noticeable from the outside, so it shouldn’t disrupt the area too much.
In 2013, the theater was closed and its liquor license revoked over multiple safety code violations. The following year, it was reported that Eddie Carranza would sell the theater to Moyer under the ownership of New Congress, LLC.
The theater was built back in 1926 as a movie theater seating almost 3,000 guests. It also had 17 stores and 56 apartments. DNAinfo reports that in the renovations, they’re looking to add tiered seating for 2,500-3,500 concert-goers, 32 hotel rooms, and 14 affordable apartments.
Although these announcements dated back to 2015 with the theater supposed to have opened this year, Moyer told the Chicago Tribune that the delays were, in part, caused by the death of one of the partners, and “another aspect that has delayed our original timeline has been the amount of time that we have spent on the drawings. You want to make your mistakes on paper.”
If all goes to play, 2019 will give us a ton of things to celebrate, including over a hundred new live music acts coming through on tour a year.
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