Crain's: Local investor to buy historic New Regal Theater

Regal Theater by nvaughn

Yesterday it was going around that music industry power couple Jay-Z & Beyonce were set to buy the Regal Theater located near 79th & Stony Island. That rumor was smashed into pieces and in Crain's today it appears that there is another interested party in that venue:

A local real estate investment firm is taking a swing at a challenging South Side property: the New Regal Theater.

Chicago-based Community Capital Investment Partners LLC has a contract to purchase the historic venue at 1645-55 E. 79th St. in the South Chicago neighborhood, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

The deal appears to be a new direction for Community Capital, which describes itself as an affordable-housing developer on its website.

Jerald Gary, listed as the firm's president and chief investment officer on the website, was not available for comment today.

A spokesman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which owns the property, declined to name the theater's purchaser.

Built in 1927, the New Regal is known for its distinctive Moorish-style architecture. It once showed movies, and famed musicians including B.B. King and Smokey Robinson played concerts at the property, which has 2,400 seats, over the years.

Having been shuttered under the ownership of Ed and Bettiann Gardner in 2003 and subject to foreclosure under new ownership more recently it was put on sale by the FDIC who currently owns the property for $100,000 according to Lee Bey. Let's hope under new ownership, this venue will be back in business in the near future.