Burnham Plaza Theatre

The Burnham Plaza was also runned by Loews/Cineplex and later by the now defunct Meridan Theaters before Village Theaters took over.

I believe this is a 5-screen, not 6.

This place is a dump with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

The Burnham Plaza is an excellent example of a theater that SHOULD be doing better than it is. I was there to see "The Interpreter" and I saw that the place "could" have a lot of potential. The South Loop is a burgeoning area. There are a lot of bars and restaurants nearby. It is close to the 'L'. And there are at least three colleges nearby-Columbia College, DePaul and Roosevelt (the theatre does offer discounts to college students).

However, the theatre isn't very old (17 years) and it's already had four owners--Cineplex Odeon, Loews-Cineplex, Meridian, and Village. A disused soft drink machine in the lobby still has the Cineplex-Odeon Logo on it. Although Village Theatres has kept open theatres no one else wanted, they've done so on the cheap. Although the Burnham Plaza is kept somewhat clean-especially the restrooms, it looks "tired" already and it could really use an update. Plus, Village doesn't advertise its theatres in the paper!

Also, if this place screened an art film, they would probably get a lot of students, especially from Columbia College. I attended Columbia in the mid-1980s and would go to the Fine Arts, which was on Michigan Avenue, if I had a few hours between classes.

Probably a good chunk of SAIC students too

Pertaining to my above comments, it appears to me that Village is slowly but surely cleaning up its theaters. Village just doesn't have the capital that Loews or AMC does. In addition to the rest rooms being clean, the past two times I've been in the Burnham, my feet didn't stick to the floors. My friend lost his book in the theater and the manager gladly went with him, flashlight in hand, to help him look.

Another thing too I noticed is NO COMMERCIALS. Although you get the by-now-standard 15-20 minutes of previews, the Burnham doesn't have ads for Coke, Pepsi, etc. People, if you want to continue to have alternatives to Loews and AMC, then get out there and patronize smaller chains like Village and Classic Cinemas and indpendent theaters. The more you patronize smaller chains, the more money they can put into their theaters and the more money they can spend on getting good bookings.

According to the Chicago Tribune, this theater will be closing in August; the building will be converted to a medical office bldg.

Was this soon-to-be-former theater ever successful? It seems from what I have read that this theater was likely obsolete within a few years of its opening, much like the Cineplex Odeon theater in 600 N Michigan. Considering how busy the South Loop is becoming, with all the new residences, I would think a multiplex would flourish in the area.

Brendan, I did not find that Tribune aticle. But in reply, consider that the place was built in 1988 and has already had 4 owners/operators (per my comment above). It puzzles me too that the South Loop area has become so popular, yet no one has been able to make a success of this place. Watch, this place will close and then in a few years, someone like Loews or AMC will announce plans for a mega-plex in the South Loop (There's a lot of vacant land at Clark and Roosevelt, right across from the new Target store).

By the way, I don't think that the 600 North theatre is obsolete. I go there often and it appears to do good business.

Village Entrainment is the biggest dumb as*es working in the theater exhibitor business today. Village has no public relations first of all. They do no advertising what so ever. There are no newspaper ads and not even the Village Entrainment web site works anymore
http://www.villagetheatres.com The Webmaster had some kind of falling out with Village, which am sure was over money. Village has grown over the years but does not have the money to keep theatres running, either because they don’t have the financial backing or they simply don’t want to spend the money. Biograph Theater was sentence to death under Village’s name. Village sentenced Water Tower Theatre to death. That is just to name a few. Note to big chains if you want to destroy a theatre without a bad mark on your name sell it to Village Entertainment. Landlords want a reason to use a theatre space for other use rent it to Village! At Village Entertainment will kill them all!! No theatre is too big! 1,2,3, 4 screens even 5. Heck give us 20 we kill them too!

I've seen a couple of movies here when it first opened. It's too bad that this theater always seems to be struggling. The location has done a 360 and has become quite hot. I think if they clean it up and add some eclectic fare, it would do well. I stopped going here because the audience became a little rough; however, with the gentification going on, this could change.

I went here to see CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY today. The guy working at the concession stand says it will close Labor Day Weekend, 2005. There were only about 8 people in the auditorium.

And so the Burnham closed after today, Labor Day, 2005! The final movies were The Cave, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Red Eye, Four Brothers, and Skeleton Key.

The Burnham is yet another cinema, built by Cineplex Odeon circa 1987-1989, to close. Out of some 16 theatres built by C-O in the Chicagoland Area during that time, only about 5 remain.

I believe that the Burnham may have been the last theatre of the ill-fated Meridien chain to close.

Despite many comments saying that Burnham was a terrible theater and what-not, I enjoyed it. I liked that very few people went there. It felt like a neighborhood hangout, cozy. It was the location of my first date with my boyfriend almost 4 years ago. I will miss it

The biggest theater was quite spacious and nice. 500 seats not stadium style but traditional. You just don't get that with the mega's these days. The Lincoln Village 1-6 is one of the few remaining theaters of this Cineplex Odeon style remaining.

And now Village Theatres has the Lincoln Village too! Of course, they are not advertising it (at least in the Sun-Times), so we'll see how long it lasts.

Anyways, I recently took a walk past the Burnham. It is already almost completely gutted. Even the marquee, which was more like a signboard, has been completely removed. Virtually nothing remains except the pay booth to indicate that this was a theatre.

Well, I guess it didn't take long for a new theatre to be put in the south loop. Kerasotes Theatres is planning a 14-18 screen theatre to put up near Clark Street & Roosevelt Road. Here's a link to the article.

http://ccchronicle.com/paper/citybeat.php?id=1949

Can't wait for this to open.

The function for this theatre should be "Office Space."

Also, the theater wasn't in the YMCA Hotel space, it was in an adjacent addition, so Robert C. Berlin would not really be an accurate architect for this building.

Here is a link to the renovation architect's page. It seems that Burnham Plaza employed a very sophisticated system to avoid noise from the el. The site also includes an early view of the theater.

I notice that in that view, the canopy and vertical sign are missing, and the Cineplex sign is intact. Were those alterations from Meridian?

I think that was in the early 90's, because one of the films on the marquee is House Party. Thanks for the link, Brian.

You can compare it to the photos of the Cinematour website. In this view http://www.cinematour.com/picview.php?db=us&id=1737 (2004) we see that the Cineplex-Odeon logo has been removed and that the vertical sign is no longer used. Did Meridien cease using the sign or did Village?

And here is a photo of the pay-booth http://www.cinematour.com/picview.php?db=us&id=1736

I still say it's a shame this place closed. Someone with good business sense could have made the Burnham profitable, what with several colleges and new housing nearby. But it was treated like an unwanted step-child fromt he beginning.

Village took down the sign. I remember going past this place in 99 and I think I saw the Meridian logo out front.

How odd, Village NEVER takes down the old owner's signs!

Yeah, just look at the Lincoln Village (even Loews didn't take down the sign there) and the recently closed Golf Glen.

Speaking of the sign, how were the letters on the upper sign changed? Was there a catwalk, or was a long pole used?

Theatres closed by the Village Entertainment chain and the years Village operated them:

Biograph: 2002-2004
Burnham Plaza: 2002-2005
Fox Valley: 2002-2003
Golf Glen: 2002-2006
Hinsdale: 2002-2003
Water Tower: 2002-2003

Notice that all came from Village's expansion in 2002. Undercapitalized and over-expanded in such a short time

Paul, I was able to make out some of the movies playing on the marquee in the architect photos Brian posted. The movies are, House Party, I Love You to Death, Crazy People, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Miami Blues.

Oh, Kerasotes's south loop theater should open in 2008. That would make it the 20 year anniversary of Burnham.

Did anybody see the rendering of the theater that will be at Roosevelt Collection? Looks promising.

Yes, it does. Hope it comes through.

This theatre space was converted to High Rent Appartments, not office space.

Gene-Paul,

I believe that the original plan was to convert it into office space. This was per an article I read in a local newspaper.

I walked by here today. The new front they put on the place looks terrible--really grafted on.

Was this theatre designed by the same firm that dd the Lincoln Village. The style and even color of brick looks similar?

Oh yeah. Mesbur & Smith designed all Cineplex Odeons from 1983-1990. Then they did a few after that. The brick and interior color you talk about is at Bloomingdale Court, was at Bricktown Square,(from what I've heard) and many, many other CO theaters.

I attended a broadcasting school (Midwestern School Of Broadcasting) in Chicago on Wabash so I lived at the YMCA Hotel for several months.
What a place! I'll never forget the memories of all the varied activities there and the cold wind off Lake Michigan when walking back and fourth to classes. I saw more than my share of movies on weekends at some of the movie theatres downtown.

Gene-Paul,

Your comment says that this place was converted to high-end apartments. Not to doubt you, but I don't see how. The building being a former cinema has few windows (unless they plan on cutting in new windows). And a banner on the rear of the building, facing the L, says that medical-office space is for lease.

I walked past here last week. It appears that the front of the building--where the foyer/entrance was--is being used for medical offices. Where the auditoriums were is where the apartments went in.

Does the Village still own any theatres? It just seems to me that they really did have a bunch of gems... but just crushed them instead of doing something with them. Perhaps next one they run to the ground I should buy for dirt cheap from them, and fix it up. The Burnham was an EXCELLENT example! I worked there a couple of times (projected) and every time I always thought of how well it could do if you just put a little bit of money into it, now that the south loop is being developed. You had the parking right there, you had the L right there, you had the colleges, the new residents, new businesses...

I did some research a few weeks ago, and when Village first became a chain circa 2000-2002, the company DID advertise its cinemas and did appear to be a legitimate chain and not a "crash-and-burn-operation". The December 20, 2002 edition of The Chicago Tribune shows the following cinemas that Village advertised and the movies playing there:

HINSDALE: Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers
GLENWOOD: Two Weeks Notice, Wild Thornberry's, & Lord of the Rings 2
BURNHAM PLAZA: Gangs of NY, Lord of the Rings 2, Drumline, Empire
BLOOMINGDALE: Gangs of NY, Two Weeks Notice, Lord of The Rings 2, Drumline, Star Trek Nemesis, Die Another Day.
STRATFORD: Wild Thornberry's , Lord Of the Rings 2, Hot Chick, Harry Potter & the Chambers Secrets, Analyzze That.
WATER TOWER: Personal Velocity, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, Emporer's Club,Ararat.
BIOGRAPH: Analyze That, Two Weeks Notice, Gangs of New York.
VILLAGE: Gangs of NY, Rodger Dodger, Emporer's Club, Man From Elysian Fields.
VILLAGE NORTH: Lord of the Rings 2, Drumline, Star Trek Nemesis.
GOLF GLEN: Two Weeks Notice, Gangs of NY, Wild Thornberry's, Lord of the Rings 2, Harry Potter, and Analyze That.

Apparantly, Village Entertainment was promoting its cinemas and had decent bookings (although it still gets decent bookings). And Water Tower was showing art films! The questions are what happened and when did Village become a "crash-and-burn" operation?

Apparantly this place is now called "Burnham Park Professional Offices" or some such.

I worked as a manager at the Burnham for the Village Theater company on and off between 2002 - 2004. The theater was so enormous and creepy. After hours a bunch of us employees filmed a horror movie there, so as a result I have a bunch of dv footage of every room in that building. The theater had two projection booths on two seperate floors, and the quickest way to get to them in a hurry was to take the really creepy fire exit staircase. Incidentally, that was the same staircase the homeless would always break into to sneak and sleep in the theaters overnight. The place was gloomy, and Ron Rooding at one point had his goons begin work on a ticket booth on the floor above the escalators. It was never completed. The place was in fact, falling apart. I can see from experience what can happen to these old theaters when a company doesn't put any money into repairing them right away. I can only imagine how those old loop theaters must have been run by Plitt in the 1980's. It seems to me Plitt treated those majestic theaters with the same kind of "I don't give a crap" attitude that the Village did with places like The Burnham, Water Tower, Village, and Biograph in the 2000's.

Youtube it!

It's already on youtube! Search for the movie title: 'Last Exit on Dead End Highway'. We shot all over the theater including in the offices and projection booths after hours.

Has anyone walked past the Roosevelt Collection development lately? I can't wait for the theater to open. I wrote to Dean Kerasotes himself, and he gave me a few snipets of info

The largest auditoriums will have side-masking (a reason to reduce on going to River East)

Two of those largest screens will be about 65 feet wide for 'scope' presentations. Both will also have 21 and older balconies with seating for about 150. By now you've probably heard about Jerry Kleiner opening a bar at the theater's upper level.

It will have digital (he didn't say if it will be all-digital) projection

You've heard it here first. I miss the Burnham Plaza, but the Showplace 16 is almost here.

That sounds great! Where exactly is Roosevelt Collection and when is it opening? Any more info about the cinemas that were to be in Block 37 and when they might open?

The project developer's website for the Block 37 project (now called 108 North State) still says that Muvico is going to operate a theater on the shopping center section's eighth floor. But Muvico just underwent a financial re-organization and sold off off some its theaters to Cinemark. There's no mention of the Chicago downtown project on the Muvico site though does mention some other projected openings. 108 North State recently lost some previously announced high profile tenants (including Apple Computer). It would not surprise me if the proposed theater is on hold, perhaps indefinitely, given the state of the economy right now.

Roosevelt Collection is a rental apartment/retail development that's located at 150 W Roosevelt Road (Roosevelt & Clark/Wells St). The theaters will be at the end of the center. This link has renderings on how the complex will look when finished.

The Block 37 project is still on. Muvico Theatres will be on the fifth floor I believe. Since David Barton Gym moved to Roosevelt Collection, maybe the seating capacity at 37 might be increased. It will still have seven screens. Opening is set for this fall.

Thanks, sounds exciting!

According to the Kerasotes website, the theater at Roosevelt Collection is now known as the ShowPlace ICON Theatre. This sounds like Kerasotes is brining about a new brand within the corporation. They're opening a similar location in St. Louis Park, MN next month.