Navy Pier To Reopen To Public On April 30

This article was originally published at Patch .

CHICAGO — Navy Pier will reopen to the public April 30 after remaining shuttered to the public for nearly eight months. Special 10-minute fireworks shows are planned for 9:30 p.m. on Saturday in May to celebrate the reopening.

The reopening includes all outdoor areas, cruises and some rides and attractions, including the Ferris wheel, rotating swing and carousel. The pier's interior spaces, food court, retail shops and other locations will resume sometime in May, along with free community programs, pier representatives announces.

"Following Navy Pier's longest closure in recent history, we are anxious to reopen our spaces and safely welcome guests back to the Pier," said Marilynn Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Navy Pier Inc., the nonprofit entity that operates the public tourism attraction.

Amid the emergence of the coronavirus in Illinois, the pier closed for 12 weeks last spring. Pier representatives said attendance was down by more than 80 percent when it reopened.

In mid-August, the pier closed for the winterwith hopes of a spring reopening. Last month, AMC officials confirmed the shuttered IMAX theater had permanently closed.

"As a key economic driver and cultural anchor for the city and state, we recognize the critical role Navy Pier plays in leading our community out of the devastation from the pandemic," Gardner said in a statement. "With mass vaccination rollouts now underway, we are eager to help guests safely reconnect to Chicago and its most treasured experiences, and remain committed to helping revive the city and region."

While Navy Pier received $2.5 million from the Paycheck Protection Program last year, pier representatives projected a $20 million deficitfor 2020, citing restrictions associated with the coronavirus and the cancellations of large events. As a result, top executives took pay cuts of 33 percent, with its CEO's $541,000-a-year salary reduced by 44 percent.

In March, a new 223-room hotel operated by Hilton opened on the Pier. Its restaurant, along with Billy Goat Tavern, Giordano's, Harry Caray's Tavern, Margaritaville and Offshore Rooftop and Bar will all be open as part of the first phase of reopening.

Hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Pier representatives promised extensive cleaning and other safety measuresto limit the potential spread of the coronavirus.

Among them: a partnership with NTT Corporation, City Tech Collaborative and other unspecified companies to pilot a "capacity intelligence" program called Smart Solutions, according to the statement. The technology alerts staff when a particular high-traffic zone reaches its capacity.

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state-created agency that manages Navy Pier and McCormick Place, granted a 15-year, $1-per-year lease to the nonprofit entity Navy Pier Inc. in 2011.

The agency gave Navy Pier $115 million for upgrades, over $60 million in operating funds, $2.5 million worth of cars and equipment and loaned it $5 million for start-up expenses.

Since 2014, Navy Pier has been engaged in a legal battle to keep its business records secret, arguing it is exempt from the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

A Cook County circuit court judge, in March 2018, and a unanimous three-judge Illinois appellate panel, in November 2020, both rejected arguments from pier attorneys that its records should be private.

But last month, the Illinois Supreme Court sent the case back to the circuit court to conduct a fact-specific inquiry about whether the documents in question directly relate to a governmental function. It will have to be a new judge this time, since the Cook County circuit judge who previously ruled against the pier has since retired.

State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, introduced legislationin February to explicitly cover Navy Pier Inc. under the FOIA, but no other senators have signed on.

After last month's Supreme Court order, 36th Ward Chicago Ald. Gilbert Villegas called for hearingsto determine how taxpayer money is being spent at the pier, telling Politico Illinois "the city has a right to see if it is losing economic opportunities because of a lack of public information."

As of three years ago, the legal battle to keep Navy Pier's records from the public had cost taxpayers $670,000, according to Better Government Association President David Greising. It's not clear how much money the nonprofit entity has spent fighting the case since then.

Navy Pier was first envisioned by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham as a " people's pier." It opened in 1916 at a cost of $5 million in taxpayer dollars, which is the equivalent of nearly $119 million today. It served as a U.S. Navy training center in World War II and later served as a campus for the University of Illinois at Chicago before being redesigned as a tourist destination in 1995.

Read this article at Patch .