Apartment complex could rise at shuttered Lincoln Park playhouse

Draper & Kramer venture acquires site of former Royal George Theatre

Draper & Kramer CEO Todd Bancroft with Royal George Theatre (Google Maps, Draper & Kramer)
Draper & Kramer CEO Todd Bancroft with Royal George Theatre (Google Maps, Draper & Kramer)

A venture led by apartment developer Draper & Kramer has acquired a Lincoln Park property that housed the Royal George Theatre until the pandemic forced it to shutter.

The buyers paid $7.1 million for the site at 1633-1641 N. Halstead St., according to Crain’s. The deal for the 26,000-square-foot lot closed last month. The building had been the Royal George Theatre’s home since 1984, but the coronavirus ended its long run.

Plans are not known and a residential project would likely require a zoning change. But rental market activity and development is returning across the city.

In Lincoln Park, JDL Development received approval to build a 79-unit residence near the Royal George Theatre property and a 92-unit project has also been proposed around the corner.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

And last month, DAC Developments and Melrose Ascension Capital proposed a 288-unit rental complex in the West Loop.

Led by Todd Bancroft, Draper & Kramer is also part of the development team that received city approval last week for the $3.8 billion redevelopment on the lakefront site of the former Michael Reese Hospital in Bronzeville.

[Crain’s] — Holden Walter-Warner

Read more