Film-Scoring Stage Wanted for Historic Chicago Stockyards

The old Chicago stockyards could become a cultural center and a hub for the city’s film and television industry.

A nonprofit focused on the city’s music culture won the right to purchase the historic Stock Yards Bank & Trust building from the city of Chicago for $1.9 million.

Third Coast Music would develop an $80 million campus for music production at 4150 South Halsted Street in Canaryville, bridging a critical gap in the city’s “booming” film and TV industry, Crain’s reported.

The nonprofit’s proposal was chosen above just one other by the Department of Planning & Development, which had requested proposals for the historic Halsted Street entrance of the old Union Stock Yard.

The project involves transforming two sites: the bank, which has been empty for 50 years, and the vacant lot where the historic Stock Yard Inn once stood until its demolition in 1971.

Third Coast’s plans include an 8,000-square-foot scoring stage within the 31,700-square-foot bank building, designed by Nonzero Architecture. The facility will allow film composers to produce scores locally, a capability largely absent in Illinois despite a $600 million annual film and television production spend.

The scoring stage construction is expected to cost $56 million, while $24 million is allocated for redeveloping the historic building into a multipurpose educational and cultural hub. Once operational, revenue from scoring stage rentals will help sustain the nonprofit’s broader mission.

Another project slated to boost Chicago’s film industry is Loop Capital Real Estate Partners’ 222,000-square-foot filming studio in Chicago’s South Shore. Known as Regal Mile Studios, the facility will include five soundstages, a gym, cafeteria and recreation space.

In support of Third Coast’s proposal are the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Columbia College Chicago. Pending City Council approval, construction could start by 2026.

— Andrew Terrell