The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is exploring an expansion of cramped Orchestra Hall, including a plan to demolish an adjacent office building and replace it with a structure containing a recital hall, rehearsal space and a cafe open to the public, according to people familiar with the symphony trustees` deliberations.
Symphony officials, who were in New York last week before the orchestra left for a 2-week European tour, would confirm only that the trustees voted in a special meeting on March 24 to authorize the next phase of an architectural feasibility study concerning the renovation of Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan Ave.
But according to a trustee who requested anonymity, the board is examining several options to expand 88-year-old Orchestra Hall, including buying the Borg-Warner Building, immediately north of the concert hall at 200 S. Michigan Ave. Another option, the trustee said, would be to buy property west of Orchestra Hall along Wabash Avenue.
Another person familiar with the trustees` deliberations said that if the CSO buys the Borg-Warner Building, it would demolish the 34-year-old, 22-story office building and construct a new building containing an 800- to 1,000-seat recital hall, rehearsal space, shops, a lobby, offices for symphony staff, and a cafe where symphony-goers, including Loop office workers, could gather before performances.
”The idea is that you get off work and come to the new Symphony Center and spend an hour or two before the concert,” the source said.
Although it ranks among the nation`s premier symphony orchestras, the CSO for years has complained of a shortage of space in Orchestra Hall, saying it needs more room for everything from rehearsals to entertaining symphony patrons.
In addition, the relatively small size of the CSO`s concert hall has produced a clear, but dry, symphonic sound that has necessitated acoustical tinkering over the years.
In 1990, the CSO joined with Lyric Opera of Chicago to explore building a performing arts center in the style of New York City`s Lincoln Center. But the plan, which had the backing of top corporate executives and politicians, collapsed when the symphony`s board of trustees decided to remain in Orchestra Hall, in part because of the recession.
Subsequently, the Lyric and the CSO both retained one of the city`s largest architetural firms, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, to explore remodeling or expanding their current homes.
The Lyric is currently housed in the 63-year-old Civic Opera House.
Last August, while the proposed performing arts center was still under consideration, Henry Fogel, the symphony`s executive director, said it was possible that the symphony could expand by securing additional space in the Borg-Warner Building or the Sante Fe Building, immediately to the south of Orchestra Hall at 224 S. Michigan Ave.
But details involving the Borg-Warner Building have not been made available until now.
As part of the plan involving the Borg-Warner Building, sources said, the CSO`s existing facilities in Orchestra Hall, including the concert hall, would be renovated. They did not specify how the hall`s acoustics would be improved. The sources also mentioned the following features in connection with the Borg-Warner plan:
– A lobby in the new building would dramatically expand the CSO`s current lobby, which often is crowded before and after concerts.
– All offices now located in Orchestra Hall would be moved to the Borg-Warner site.
– The new building would have below-ground parking.
– The recital hall in the new building would have a flat floor instead of a pitched floor, making it useable for dinners before concerts.
– The new building would be roughly the same height as Orchestra Hall, which has eight floors.
”The notion is that it becomes more than Orchestra Hall,” the sources said.
”It becomes Symphony Center.”
Plans for expanding Orchestra Hall to the west are less clear.
To the west of the building are an alley, a parking garage and shops along Wabash Avenue. By expanding to the west, however, the CSO might find it easier to enlarge the size of its concert hall, thereby improving the hall`s acoustics.
Those familiar with the workings of the symphony trustees, known officially as the Orchestral Association of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, stressed that all plans under consideration remain preliminary and that it could be at least a year before a final decision is made.
Yet others said that the CSO`s public relations department was preparing to release information about a possible expansion of Orchestra Hall.
The sources would not discuss price tags attached to the expansion options. It is also possible, sources said, that the CSO will not expand, but will simply remodel its existing facilities.
The CSO is facing a budget deficit of more than $1 million in fiscal 1992, but is expected to have a budget surplus of at least $110,000 in fiscal 1993.
The orchestra`s operating budget for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, is $34 million.
Despite the recession, other Chicago cultural organizations have been able to raise money for building programs.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, for example, has raised more than $43 million for the $55 million building and sculpture garden to be constructed on the present site of the Illinois National Guard Armory, 234 E. Chicago Avenue. The new museum is expected to open in 1995.
