Waukegan’s long-running downtown revitalization project will get a $12 million shot in the arm in the form of general obligation bonds issued by the city to finance restoration of the Genesee Theater.
The bonds will be added to the $3.5 million already secured by the Genesee Theater Restoration Project to cover the $15.5 million cost estimated by Ray Shepardson, the project manager and a theater restoration specialist for GSI Architects of Cleveland.
Revitalization supporters have long argued that solid backing from city government is the key to luring investment to the downtown area.
“Anybody who says we’re rushing this hasn’t been paying attention,” Ald. Ray Vukovich said. “We’ve been studying this and talking about this for long enough. It’s time to get moving.”
The Genesee Theater, northeast of Genesee and Clayton Streets, was once the showpiece of downtown Waukegan and an important gathering place in the days when Lake County’s largest city was home to nearly half its population.
Nat King Cole is said to have met his wife at the Genesee, and Waukegan native Jack Benny premiered his movie “Man About Town” there in 1939.
The block-long building is home not only to the cavernous 1,785-seat auditorium but also to 11 retail spaces and 44 apartments. The Waukegan Downtown Association, the Genesee Theater Restoration Project and the city’s Department of Planning have offices in the building.
But it’s the opulent auditorium with its red velvet seats and soaring proscenium that tugs hardest at local heartstrings.
The theater hosted its last performance in 1991 and has been maintained by a trust ever since. The city took over ownership last year.
Restoration boosters aim to reopen the Genesee on Christmas Day 2002, the 75th anniversary of the theater’s original 1927 opening.
“This moment is the kickoff of the revitalization of downtown,” James Neal, restoration project executive director, told the City Council. A restored theater with full programming, including local and traveling acts, will create demand for restaurants, shops, nightclubs and other amenities, Shepardson said. That would give the city’s downtown area a much-needed boost.
The Genesee is also a bargain, he said, because similar restorations in other cities have cost as much as $90 million in less viable neighborhoods.
“You have an absolutely wonderful opportunity and a fabulous bargain here,” said Shepardson, noting that he has restored about 30 theaters during his career. “And compared to St. Louis, this neighborhood is like Manhattan.”
Shepardson’s plan calls for a $5 “restoration fee” to be added to each ticket.
Any additional grants or donations also would be put toward debt service and later to an endowment to assure the theater’s future, Shepardson said.
“This could become the `Blank’ Genesee Theater, if somebody writes a big enough check,” Vukovich said, referring to the trend toward corporate sponsorship of theaters and other sites.
Detractors questioned the timing of the bond deal and the need for so much public financing.
Ald. Larry TenPas, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said the move would increase the city’s indebtedness by half.
“I’m not anti-theater, but I’d like to ask the voters,” said TenPas, who suggested putting an advisory referendum question on the April ballot.
Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Shorts told the council it was irresponsible to commit the city to the plan a few months before a new mayor takes over. Mayor William Durkin is not running for re-election.
The bond deal allows the city to issue up to $20 million in general obligation bonds.
In addition to the $12 million earmarked for the Genesee, $5 million is likely to be used to buy property downtown and along the lakefront, said Vukovich, whose 4th Ward includes downtown. The remaining $3 million may be used for renovations at City Hall, he said.
The new bonds should not affect what homeowners pay in taxes because the indebtedness is already figured into the tax rate.
