Scuffle Brewing Over Funding for Uptown Theater

How much money is enough to renovate a classic Chicago landmark? The developers aiming to revamp the long-shuttered Uptown Theatre at 4816 North Broadway and the city of Chicago are about to find out.

Uptown Theatre owner Jerry Mickelson said that a full renovation would come with a $200 million price tag, and the majority of that funding would have to be public, according to Block Club Chicago. He went on to cite a downtown office building on LaSalle Street that received $98 million from the city in tax increment financing, while he’s been offered around half of that figure.

Mickelson previously struck a $79 million redevelopment public-private deal with the city in 2018, but the deal was nixed when partner Farpoint Development left in 2021, said Peter Strazzabosco, spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development. Mickelson claims the pandemic real estate market forces were to blame.

Strazzabosco stressed that Mickelson’s 2024 application for a community development grant greatly exceeded the tax increment financing guidance which states that the funds should be around 30 percent of the total cost for the project. TIF assistance for six approved LaSalle street projects averaged 35 percent, according to the outlet.

Mickelson claims that 35 percent isn’t enough for the full restoration project to move forward. TIF help for the restoration of the Congress Theater was around 31 percent of the total cost, but that redevelopment also included affordable housing and 13,000 square feet of commercial space, according to the outlet.

Some of the bigger projects in the Chicago area aren’t getting 35 percent, however. JDL Development and Kanye Anderson Real Estate are looking for $202 million in TIF reimbursements for the Foundry Park megadevelopment that is pegged at $3 billion. The Foundry Park developers are looking for a substantially smaller TIF package than the developers of the Lincoln Yards megadevelopment did, however, as the Lincoln Yards development ask was for $490 million.

— Hunter Cooke