West Side draws Sundance Kid

I saw this in Crain's Chicago Business. Robert Redford has his sights on building a movie theater on Chicago's near west side.

Robert Redford's start-up movie theater chain is in talks to anchor a retail complex planned for the former Fannie May factory site on the Near West Side, a deal that would add celebrity glitz to a once-gritty area now brimming with new condos and townhouses.

Sundance Cinemas LLC is close to signing a letter of intent to open a six- to eight-screen theater in a 266,000-square-foot, multistory development proposed for the site just north of the Eisenhower Expressway and east of Racine Avenue, according to people familiar with the negotiations. A Chicago location would be a key step in a planned nationwide rollout of movie theaters featuring the artsy independent films and brainy documentaries that have gained wider popularity thanks in part to Mr. Redford's non-profit Sundance Film Festival.

Here's some more about the development plans...

The developers have been working on the project for nearly two years, after paying $12.2 million for the nearly four-acre site at 1137 W. Jackson Blvd, part of the liquidation of the historic Chicago candy company. Called Metro Center 290, to play up the location along Interstate 290, plans for the project also include a specialty grocery store and a health club.

Even so, the Near West Side would at first seem an odd choice for Sundance, compared with trendier neighborhoods such as Bucktown or Lincoln Park. In the late 1990s, as part of a failed first launch of the movie house chain with General Cinemas, Mr. Redford planned a theater at North and Clybourn avenues, but never went ahead with the deal.

But retailers are slowly following a West Side housing boom that's moving westward from Halsted Street's Greektown past the United Center.
...
In Madison, as part of the redevelopment of Hilldale Shopping Center, Sundance is planning a six-screen, 1,200-seat theater that would include a bar, restaurant and shop for Sundance-themed merchandise, says Andrew Stein, vice-president of development at Palatine real estate firm Joseph Freed & Associates LLC, which owns Hilldale. "Sundance is the premier name in independent art films. That's what we're banking on," he says. Announced in November, the theater is expected to be opened early next year.

This is interesting sounds like a good deal.

Oh yeah and it's rare that I do three posts in one day. This'll be the last post for sure.