Kiel Opera House Redevelopment On Track

By Annie Zaleski on Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:42 pm

[
      {
        "name": "Ad - NativeInline - Injected",
        "component": "37365813",
        "insertPoint": "3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "5"
      },{
        "name": "Real 1 Player (r2) - Inline",
        "component": "37365812",
        "insertPoint": "2/3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "9"
      }
    ]

KWMU reported last week that plans to redevelop the Kiel Opera House (1401 Clark Avenue) are in the works. From the article:

The $70 million renovation proposal calls for a 3,500 seat theater, another small theatre, a restaurant, and conference rooms.

The investment group includes Blues owner Dave Checketts and McEagle Properties. They's seeking $30 million in city amusement taxes on Blues tickets be diverted for bond payments on the project.

Alderman Fred Wessels co-sponsored legislation in the Board of Alderman Friday.

Wessels says the investment group hopes to open the opera house by December of next year, which he calls ambitious.

I have an email into Wessels inquiring about the possibility of this redesigned venue hosting music events, like the adjacent (and now-demolished) Kiel Auditorium used to. (Our art director, Tom Carlson, mentioned seeing Elvis Costello, Squeeze, the Police, Frank Zappa and A Flock of Seagulls there.) Having this venue in the city might prove to be interesting, because it's not a stretch to say that the renovated theater would compete with the 4500-seat capacity Fabulous Fox for events. More info about the proposed deal can be found here.