New life for Chicago Harbor Lighthouse?

Renowned Chicago artist Theaster Gates — known for repurposing old buildings for community use — is one of the people considering breathing life back into the deteriorating building.

By Mitch Dudek Dec 8, 2019, 10:45am CST

The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, located a mile into Lake Michigan, doesn’t need a lighthouse keeper — automation has rendered that job unnecessary. Ever since the federal government handed it over to the city in 2010, local officials have waited for the right idea to come along to breathe new life into the building. Mitch Dudek/Sun-Times


It’s the city’s coolest building that no one talks about.

And understandably so.

The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, located a mile into Lake Michigan, is mostly the stuff of touristy postcards or sideways glances while cruising the lakefront.

It’s been all but abandoned for decades, still functioning but fully automated since the 1970s. The structure has been stripped to the studs — a shell with spiral stairs.

The feds handed ownership to the city in 2009, and it’s been waiting for the right suitor to sweep it off its concrete pier.The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse has seen better days. Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Assessment Report

It’s known love in the past.

There were dozens of lighthouse keepers over the years. Then, when automation rendered them unnecessary, a hard-drinking and adventurous salesman moved in briefly after convincing the Coast Guard a tenant would help ward off vandals.

His partying was infamous. His lease didn’t last long. Since then, affection has come mostly from seagulls.

City leaders expressed interest in breathing some sort of life back into it after acquiring the building a decade ago. Still, no formal request for proposals was issued, and there’s been nary a peep since.The circular stairwell in the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse includes a railing that would not meet current standards, a city report noted. Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Assessment Report

But the Sun-Times has learned through open records requests that a number of people have shown interest.

Several established real estate developers have made recent enquiries on behalf of restaurant operators about opportunities to build an eatery inside the lighthouse, according to the city’s Department of Planning and Development.

Recent visitors include structural engineers, architects and representatives of Navy Pier Inc., the organization that runs Navy Pier. The pier is about half a mile from the lighthouse and is thought to be a natural spot to ferry a ready supply of customers to and from the lighthouse.Deterioration is evident near one of the lighthouse windows. Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Assessment Report

One name that surfaced as an interested party is that of internationally renowned Chicago artist Theaster Gates. He received a lighthouse tour this summer.

It’s unclear what Gates has in mind for the lighthouse, but one of his life passions may offer a hint.

Gates runs a non-profit foundation that repurposes abandoned buildings into libraries, galleries and community centers that promote art in the African American community.

He didn’t return phone and email messages. Artist Theaster Gates speaks during the Obama Foundation Summit at the Illinois Institute of Technology on the South Side, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

A source close to the matter said Gates was exploring the possibility of using the lighthouse as a space for artists or for an art installation of some sort.

He’s best known in Chicago for transforming an abandoned bank into a gallery, archive, library and cultural center.

The Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 S. Stony Island Ave., opened to the public in 2015.

Gates, an art professor at the University of Chicago, bought the deteriorating building from the city for $1. He helped finance construction by plucking slabs of marble from the bank, inscribing them “In ART we trust” and selling them for $5,000.

The space has been a hit with the public. Former President Barack Obama visited. (Gates was one of a select group that helped choose the design team for the yet-to-be built Obama Presidential Center.)

The city wouldn’t comment on any plans Gates might have for the lighthouse.The light and fog horn at the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse have been automated for decades. Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Assessment Report

Peter Strazzabosco, spokesman for the Department of Planning and Development, said the door is wide open for any number of uses.

“The city is open to potential programming opportunities that provide public access on a seasonal basis, possibly as a destination for tour boats, special events, cultural installations or other uses that are compatible with its primary purpose as a navigational aid and its status as a city landmark,” Strazzabosco said.


One group that had grand plans for the lighthouse didn’t mind sharing their ideas.

Restaurateur David Morton, co-owner of DMK restaurant group, and real estate developer Scott Gidwitz dreamed of transforming the lighthouse and adjacent breakwater into a luxury restaurant and two-story hotel complete with a helicopter pad.

“It could be truly one of the great world-class destinations in our backyard and further beautify the lakefront and the water,” said Morton, whose father, Arnold Morton, founded Morton’s Steakhouse.

The pair went so far as to enlist an architect to design plans for the building.Architectural rendering of a hotel and restaurant at Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Provided by David Morton

But when Gidwitz dug further into the numbers, the project — with an estimated construction tab of $75 million — didn’t make sense.

“The potential revenue didn’t provide a meaningful return on the capital to build it up,” Gidwitz said, adding the location, despite being the main draw, would have posed a “logistical nightmare” for construction and operations.

Gidwitz is an executive with Chicago development firm The John Buck Company, but he explored the lighthouse project as an independent venture with Morton.

Another obstacle lay in the terms by which the federal government transferred ownership to the city.These stairs lead up to the light at the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse; the mechanism is now automated, so there’s no lighthouse keeper. Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Assessment Report

The agreement, spelled out in the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000, mandated the lighthouse be available for education, park, recreation, cultural or historic preservation purposes for the general public.

Gidwitz said he hadn’t fully thought out how to satisfy the requirement but had wondered if a plaque detailing the building’s maritime significance would have sufficed.


Cutting through a tangle of bureaucratic red tape for a landmarked building that’s still a functioning lighthouse also presented challenges.

“I’d love to see something happen there, but I don’t know what that is or how that gets done without public funding,” said Gidwitz, adding his plans never included public dollars.

“But I don’t know if that would be politically popular spending money on a lighthouse off Navy Pier at the moment.”

One thing is clear: Whoever takes on the project will have a lot of work to do.A deteriorating room inside the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Provided by the city through the 2015 Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Assessment report

There is no dock, heat, plumbing or running water, and electricity is limited.

But the bones seemed to be in decent shape, according to a city-commissioned assessment report that was completed in 2015.

Estimates on construction costs to make the building safe for regular visitors were contained in the report but redacted from view.Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Provided by city through 2015 Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Assessment Report

Originally constructed in 1893, the lighthouse was reconstructed at its current location in 1917.

Don Terras, an authority on lighthouses who maintains Grosse Pointe Lighthouse in Evanston, has visited the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse and said it’s hard to imagine the experience.

“It’s absolutely incredible, you’re far enough offshore, so you don’t hear much of anything, I mean anything, coming from this monstrous city that rises up before you. It’s very much like the apocalypse has taken place,” he said.

“I found it awe-inspiring in a number of different ways.”The lantern and foghorn are still on duty at the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, and any potential redevelopment of the site would have to take that into account. Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Assessment Report


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