ANDERSONVILLE — The Board of Education will honor Svigos Development's contract to purchase Lyman Trumbull Elementary School, but developers will be required to use the building as a theater with residential units or a private non-charter school, according to Ald. Pat O'Connor (40th).
While the community was disheartened to learn TimeLine Theatre had opted out of its contract with Svigos, the developers remain the contract purchasers and the board intends to close on the contract on Nov. 4, O'Connor said in a letter to his ward Friday.
"It is the Board of Education’s position that they do not want the expense of heating and the liability of carrying the closed Trumbull building on their real estate portfolio over the winter," the letter said.
Because of a "use restriction," developers do not need to name a theater company before acquiring the property, but once "in use" it can only be used as a theater "outside of the 49 dwelling units," O'Connor said.
The "use restriction" will remain with the property indefinitely giving Svigos "a strong incentive" to comply and find a theater group. Developers are currently talking to a number of theater tenants, he said.
"If Svigos were to violate the use restriction, the Board of Education would have the ability to take the building back. Obviously, if the Board were to exercise this remedy after the building were converted, it would do so with the express purpose of reselling the property at a significantly higher amount than it is currently receiving for the building," O'Connor said.
In September, TimeLine Theatre announced it was backing out of its partnership with Svigos Development as the first floor tenant of the building after the groups failed "to develop financial and architectural plans that could meet both the theatre’s artistic and operational needs as well as the developer’s needs," the theater said.
While the theater's Artistic Director PJ Powers had "nothing but compliments" for the City and O'Connor "trying to make things work," the developer requirements for Federal Tax credits lead to some "dealbreaker issues," he said.
"The most major issues [were] the leveling of the floor in the auditorium, so we could have a flat stage" and not being allow to hang "a lighting grid to have theater lights," he said, adding the renovations were essential for a professional stage.
The theater worked for months on redesigning its plans, but couldn't find a viable solution, he said.
When asked if another company could work around the renovations, Powers said "I know that we couldn't operate with those decisions. I don't know and can't imagine" any theater that could.
While Powers said Svigos began pursuing the credits midway through their partnership, in his newsletter O'Connor said it was at his urging developers landmarked the interior and exterior of the building.
Svigos Development was not immediately available for comment.
After the deal fell through, community groups, which made it clear ahead of the proposed sale that the building should be reused as a residential units with a theater component or a private, non-charter school, said they were losing patience and feared the community would get neither a theater or school.
Svigos also asked that "the school option" be included in the potential uses," allowing them to sell to a non-charter, private school if "theater use is not viable," the newsletter said.
"I am supporting their effort to include this use in recognition of the large number of neighbors that were and remain supportive of a school use at the property," O'Connor said.
The developers have met with the Waldorf school and more meetings are planned, he said.
Waldorf could not immediately be reached for comment.
"Before a final decision is made about the future of Trumbull, we will have a more involved dialect with the community," O'Connor said.
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