Demolition Has Begun On Royal George Theatre Buildings in Chicago
Published by John on
Developer Draper & Kramer is preparing to build a nine-story, 131-unit apartment building on the site, a project approved by the Chicago Plan Commission back in August 2023. The first floor will include 34 parking spaces and about 4,500 square feet of retail/restaurant space, plus storage for 131 bicycles. SGW Architecture & Design created the plans.
A single-story portion of the buildings nestled between the two main structures, and once the home of Balena Italian restaurant, was removed first, with a sidewalk canopy then erected in front of the vacancy. From the alley, demo work can be seen via blue sky visible through the top floor of the four-story 1633 North Halsted. While often lumped in with 1649, which was completed specifically for the theatre in 1984, this appears to be a much older building, possibly a century-plus, though an exact completion date has proven difficult to establish.
