Navy Pier could be shut down, says private operator facing $20 million loss

With people staying away even since the popular tourist attraction reopened, Navy Pier Inc. says it’s ‘looking at full closure, partial closure’ — but not going out of business.

SHARE Navy Pier could be shut down, says private operator facing $20 million loss
Navy Pier

Business at Navy Pier has taken a huge hit because of the coronavirus. From $60 million in revenues last year, Navy Pier Inc. says it’s projecting a $20 million loss this year.

Sun-Times file

Navy Pier Inc. said Monday it expects to lose $20 million this year and plans to decide by month’s end whether to close the popular tourist attraction whose business has been devastated by the coronavirus.

But Payal Patel, a spokeswoman for the private operator of the government-owned pier, said the company “is not going out of business. Navy Pier is not going bankrupt. They’re looking at full closure, partial closure.”

La Voz Sidebar

Lea este artículo en español en La Voz Chicago, la sección bilingüe del Sun-Times.
la-voz-cover-photo-2.png

Patel said the not-for-profit company has no plans to walk away from the pier, which it began leasing in 2011 under a $1-a-year lease from the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, whose board is appointed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

The coronavirus shutdown orders closed the pier from March 17 until June 10, but the usual crowds have yet to return since it reopened. Many restaurants and vendors are open. But popular attractions including the Ferris wheel, the Chicago Children’s Museum and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater remain closed.

Patel said all are receiving rent relief — another hit to the pier’s revenues, which topped $60 million last year.

While the pier was closed, Navy Pier Inc. got a loan of nearly $2.5 million under the federal Payroll Protection Program to help pay the salaries of 147 employees, including Marilynn Kelly Gardner, the chief executive officer whose salary topped $541,051 last year.

Patel said Gardner’s compensation has been cut 44 percent and other executives have been given 33 percent cuts. Twenty employees have been laid off.

The company — whose board includes former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s daughter Nora Daley Conroy — had more than $57.9 million in debts at the end of 2018, according to records it filed with the Internal Revenue Service. It’s required to pay slightly more than $3 million on those this year. Patel wouldn’t say how it will make those payments.

The Latest
Senators tasked with clearing Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s appointments are raising concerns over his renomination of Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau after the Sun-Times last year reported an executive assistant accounted for more than $240,000 in billings.
White Sox fans from all over will flock to Guaranteed Rate Field on Thursday for the team’s home opener against the Tigers.
Fans, some in costume, tailgate in the parking lots of Guaranteed Rate Field hours before the White Sox and Detroit Tigers kick off the 2024 seasons Thursday afternoon. Some weigh in on the proposed South Loop stadium.
Two weeks after the migrant eviction policy went into effect in Chicago, City Council members said not enough information on migrants exiting the shelter system has been provided.