Murky picture for beleaguered Beverly Arts Center
A new vision for the financially troubled Beverly Arts Center is under consideration.
Programs or lunches for senior citizens, park district activities, and events that would draw larger crowds from a wider region are among the ideas that could help save the center after a threatened foreclosure and leadership shakeup, officials said Thursday.
Whatever it takes, the center “is not going to disappear,” Chicago Ald. Matt O’Shea (D-19th) said.
The arts center has been a staple in the community for more than 40 years, the last 10 at a 40,000-square-foot facility at 2407 W. 111th St. It bills itself as a “multicultural center that offers fine arts education, programming and entertainment for all ages.”
But the center owes Fifth Third Bank $4.5 million on its mortgage, according to BAC board President William Figel, and it has been unable to pay annual principal mortgage payments of $150,000, according to state Sen. Ed Maloney (D-18th).
The bank wanted a change in leadership and a change in direction, Maloney said Thursday, and that resulted in the Aug. 21 firing of center director Mike Nix.
“There is a definite need for some shared tenancy,” Maloney said. “One possibility is for it to join with the Chicago Park District, which also would enable the center to get public funding.
“The bank feels that’s the key, that even increased programming will not be enough to support the center and pay its bills.”
Maloney said he has talked to city officials about other possible tenants, and he believes revenue from park district programs could help pay the mortgage.
Maloney said the center’s money troubles are partially due to an inability to draw from outside the Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood communities.
“The neighborhood re- sponded very well ... but it needs to be a regional attraction more than a neighborhood attraction,” he said.