Jay Z and Beyonce Aren't Buying The New Regal Theater
By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 21, 2013 10:00PM
The Internet nearly had a meltdown Wednesday morning with unsubstantiated reports music power couple Jay Z and Beyonce purchased the shuttered New Regal Theater on the city’s South side.
The drama began Tuesday evening when entertainment and hip-hop website Gumbumper posted the story as an “exclusive,” citing unnamed sources. Gumbumper later changed their headline to reflect they were reporting on a rumor but by then the fire spread. Afrocentric magazine Jet ran their own story, sourcing Gumbumper.
We were skeptical here at Chicagoist when we first read the news for many reasons, not the least of which was why would a couple so associated with New York City be willing to plunk down $250,000 for an old venue in a hard-to-reach location? A search of the Regal’s property index number with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds proved fruitless for us, but NBC Chicago reported this afternoon the earlier Gumbumper story was false. There is a contract in place to sell the building but a source told NBC Chicago Jay Z and Beyonce aren’t involved with the deal.
Here’s hoping whoever buys the Regal can give it new life. The 2,500-seat theater, which was a former church and was granted landmark status in 1992, features a beautiful but faded mural of some of the musicians and entertainers who played at the original Regal in Bronzeville during that neighborhood’s “Golden Age,” A stunning marquee and has gorgeous Moorish-inspired accents.
Tax increment funds helped restore the New Regal to some semblance of functionality but previous owners Edward and Bettiann Gardner (founders of the Soft Sheen black hair care empire) closed the venue in 2003. A group of investors purchased the building in 2008 in the hopes of turning it into an entertainment complex but those efforts proved fruitless.