DuPage Theater

But let’s not forget the ad hoc committee and all the games played by the supporters for all these years that have amounted to nothing. Your odds of saving this decaying relic are next to none. You’d have a better chance winning the lotto than seeing this place restored before it is too late.

And TIF is to jumpstart development not fund nearly the entire project! And now “over the years” is only two going on three years?
The only misleading information comes from the local tabloid and the theatre supporters. The real story has been reported by the respectable local papers in their editorials that clearly stated it is time to move on. The real story has been heard by our village board and they have acted on behalf of the majority of residents and not the few remaining theatre zealots. It is a sad commentary that they continue this fight when it is so clearly over. Take this energy on to a real cause.

People opposed to the DuPage Theatre’s restoration like to hide behind their aliases. They like to throw out arbitrary numbers that they don’t followup with proof. $500,000? We’d all like to see those receipts and documents. People like Challenger like to perpetuate misleading information. Taxes scare people, that’s why he likes to talk about them. The truth is the funding on this project balances out. Why have a TIF district—-and the DuPage Theatre is in an existing TIF district—-if you don’t want to benefit from it? The DuPage Theatre project is a great example of how to use TIF—-it’s a private/public venture to benefit the community. Because of this correct use of TIF, this project will not raise property taxes. The RSC plan has been put together in the light of day for all to see.

The Friends have worked hard over the years to save the theatre. Money has been raised—-lots of it. Many more pledges have been promised. People have volunteered to take care of the property—-as melders inquired. People have volunteered their labor and other efforts toward restoration. But that momentum has ground to a halt because of the resolution to destroy this historic landmark. From the beginning, we’ve only wanted to do one thing—-SAVE THE DUPAGE THEATRE! That meant we did everything our Village asked us to do in our role of grassroots citizen’s group. It hasn’t been easy, but nothing important is. And we still believe we have a chance to save this beautiful building for the future.

There may be new successful buildings, but Ziggy is right, modern buildings are not built to last. Most of them are built with 30-50 year projected lifespans. The older building from the 1920s and before are practically built to last forever, when properly maintained.

I don’t understand this mania that Dupage residents have against using taxpayer funds to save this theatre. There isn’t a building project that ever takes place without the use of taxpayer funds. Whether it’s the purchase price, or tax breaks, or some incentive to get a developer moving, they all do it. So what’s the problem here? As far as the efforts on the parts of the “Friends”, there’s not a whole lot they can do unless they own the theatre or have the owner’s permission.

When Buffalo (a city that is basically bankrupt, by the way) decided to purchase and renovate the Shea’s Buffalo Theatre they not only saved a beautiful and irreplacable building, it turned out that Shea’s became a focal point for downtown. Even though it’s still not a moneymaker the benefits to the businesses surrounding it, and the benefit to the city’s image have been enough that no one ever says saving it was a mistake. On the contrary, whenever someone walks into the building the comment that always comes up sooner or later is “I can’t believe they wanted to tear this down”.

When San Francisco (a city that has a large tourist base, and plenty of tourist attractions) declined to purchase the Fox Theatre and allow its demolition they created a loss that is still talked about in that city today, even though it happened 40 years ago!

If Dupage puts a new structure up on this site, they will have something that they can be proud of for about 10 years, at which point the building will become dated, then unkempt, then within one generation the new building will either be empty or demolished. It’s just the way it is with modern development. They’re not built to last, no matter what they are. Take it from someone who lives in a city that still thinks demolition and redevelopment is a good idea, it doesn’t work. You should save the best of what you already have, and only allow the best to be built when the opportunity arises.

Deb, Finding “solutions for preservation” sometimes includes answering the tough questions. Mine haven’t been answered. I logged on to this website because I feel some key facts about the theatre and the many years of preservation efforts have been left out. I want these readers to know that there are good arguments to be made on both sides of this issue and the village board had reasons for it’s actions. I think you want to paint a much different picture. I know you want to portray me as someone looking for an “excuse to demolish”. I think my prior posts will prove that is not true.

Unfortunately, we’ll never agree, but I will continue to post when I feel the whole story is not being told.

Regards, DN

Dupe Neighbor,

If you would like to discuss this one-on-one, I’d be happy to. Just email me at Again, this site is for those who wish to find solutions for preservation, not excuses for demolition.

Regards,

Deb

Good for you Deb! Keep fighting the good fight!
I find it curious that fiscal insanity has stopped responding since I questioned his background/motives/anonymity, and now we have challenger…Just another alias from fiscal?

And actually, I just broke my own rule and engaged Challenger. What I really wanted to do was let Dupe Neighbor know that we do care about the 5/4 story issue. It’s just that the plan was never allowed to progress that far. The TIF is not dead, and the TIF district as it now stands won’t expire until 2007, which gives us plenty of time to get it through Springfield. And I believe Senator Cronin will get it done as he’s said numerous times he would. At the end of the day, I’m probably not going to convince Dupe Neighbor or anyone else opposed to the plan at hand that the DuPage Theatre is worth saving. But as far as wanting to “keep it no matter what the costs or drastic changes it may make to our town,” remember that there is no “publicly-revealed” plan for the site once the theatre is gone. To me, that’s much more dangerous to this town than adaptively reusing this theatre.

It has been a long road, one filled with broken promises and fantasy visions of “build it and they will come.” Well has anybody on this site offered and $$ to the friends…NO. They have $1200 in the bank because there are only 60 or so people who want to save the theatre. Time to move on Deb Dynako, the friends fought hard but the end is near.

I’m sorry, Dupe Neighbor, but I need to respectfully disagree with your scenario of the situation. The only code variances currently on this plan deal with five stories instead of four on the condo height. The biggest problem is that the demolition vote came before the rest of the negotiations could be completed. The developer worked with the Village to accomodate all of their requests to that point—-including the setback, which is now 30-ft. off the back of the property line. Talks ended with Village staff stating that there was no funding gap to the plan, meaning it would pay for the restoration in total. And the plan DOES NOT say that the taxpayers will pay for any cost overruns over 12%. The contingency fund has an provision that will cover any unforeseen problems. The developer knows the extent of the needs of restoring the theatre. He has done his homework thoroughly on the property.

People against this plan keep worrying about cost overruns. As I too live in Lombard, cost overruns concern me as well. But let’s look at who came up with the figures—-Daniel P. Coffey, the preeminent architect in theatre restoration. Coffey has done extensive testing on the building. I myself am confident that he knows what he’s talking about, having listened to his presentation twice and asking the questions I needed answered. The problem we face with concerned people like Dupe Neighbor is that they don’t have all the facts (although it’s not their fault, either). It just continually leads to misunderstanding. But I have challenged others to have an expert of Coffey’s caliber dispute his claims. Recently, Coffey restored the Oriental Theatre in Chicago. That theatre is the “big sister” to the DuPage, as it was also built by Rapp & Rapp in the same time period. I just went to the Oriental to see “Wicked” and thought, wow—-we could have this in our town.

This has obviously been 6 years of bad feelings between two groups of people with different mindsets. It is true that if the referendum had been worded legally, we would have supported it. We would even welcome a referendum now, if we thought it would do any good—-but a referendum is advisory, and the Village Board could ignore any effort put toward one, anyway. We’ve never been worried about letting the people of Lombard decide. In fact, that’s the way it should be.

I, for one, will not stop fighting to save this theatre.

Thanks Dupe. Whatever they can save, if only the facade. Might be a lesson to those who are trying in their own small towns to save their theaters to keep them in working order and NOT let them stay dormant for too long.

What you are saying Dupe sounds like a good alternative plan. While I am allways in favor of saving EVERY old theater you can, especially at least one in every downtown suburb, keeping the facade and marquee intact is something. It’s sad that deferred mantinence has caused this problem. If it was just a matter of a few coats of paint and a good cleaning that would be a no-brainer to keep it running. But it appears that is not the case. Unfortunately, Lombard does not have an Oprah-like millionaire to drop a wad of bucks on a whim. It WOULD be nice, but most self-made millionaires are busy building 20 room mansions these days!
I won’t lose hope till the end, as I witnessed the senseless destruction of the Granada Theater in Chicago in 1989 due to the “machinations” of Loyola University that systematically caused its' end. Ask around. The spokeman for the Theater Historical Society said that it was “the most intact theater”. Looking at demolition videos shows that. The Granada had the last laugh though. During demolition, the workers underestimated their work, and the side wall collapse wrong and bricks cascaded on to the Red Line tracks causing a MAJOR delay. I smiled at the last word on that GRAND LADY of Rogers Park.