The Chicago music community is moving ahead with a grand plan to build one of the largest scoring stages in the United States and the biggest in the Midwest.
Led by non-profit Third Coast Music (TCM), the plans call for the redevelopment of the historic Chicago stockyards bank building on the city’s south side and the construction of a new building across the street.
The Union Stockyards, one of Chicago’s legacy industries, closed more than half a century ago. It had its own bank, a Colonial Federalist style building and larger replica of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.
“It’s an iconic location right at the entrance to the historic Union Stockyards,” Patrick Slattery, an associate with architectural firm HED, said.
The area now fronts a two-by-two square mile industrial park and the neighborhood is reviving.
“We see a lot of gentrifications, activity, economic development, all happening in that area,” TCM’s music director Rich Daniels says.
The project is currently in conceptual design with schematic drawings starting soon and working documents as capital fundraising comes together.
“Optimistically” construction would begin the first quarter of 2026, developer Gary Pachucki of IBT Group said. The cost is $80 million.
While the bank building will be restored the scoring stage will be completely new.
This stage and post-production building must be constructed from the ground up because it’s a “unique facility,” Slattery said. “The scoring stage is a state-of-the-art recording studio campus and post-production for instrumental music.”
Slattery described Chicago has having a “burgeoning” film and production industry not dissimilar to Toronto’s.
“This is the missing link. Production teams are spending millions of dollars to fly back and forth to the coasts to do production that we want to keep here,” he said.
The are almost 100 sound stages where film and TV are now being shot in the Chicago area.
The stage will be 6,000-square-feet to accommodate 100 musicians and a 100-person choir, essentially creating soundtracks for films and TV.
Construction of both buildings will be done simultaneously for cost effectiveness and with one GC and two superintendents.
The bank building’s exterior will be restored with the interior converted to a warren of studios, stages and event spaces. Because it’s a heritage building “we will be limited to what we can do in terms of interior demolition so everything will effectively be built inside interior walls,” Pachucki said.
The team will be retaining and repairing the most historical elements of the façade, the clocktower and cupola. The interior Grand Banking Hall will be restored for events, there will be a music education center, café and museum. The second floor will have editing bays and offices.
No interior walls will be torn down.
“It’s all effectively open space,” Pachucki said.
The team will build and reconfigure their own walls and spaces.
Meanwhile the new 32,000-square-foot building’s design is in evolution though there are initial renderings. This includes the stage and high bay space, mixing and screening rooms and editing bays.
“We’ll be look at the orientation of this so this will read as a cohesive campus,” Slattery said. “The materials may change but it will all be very complementary of the historic bank while celebrating its function and use for music.”
The exterior design is still in concept but “we have a sense of the material pallet so that it will be modern but respectful of the historic context,” said Slattery.
There is glazing with “the intention that this is more of a brick screen that will have light coming through.”
The stage must be built so it’s buffered from vibrations and space and soundproof rooms.
“Vibration is a really key issue, so walls will be well insulated,” TCM’s co-director Susan Chatman said. “We would like to have adaptable acoustics from the ceiling height to being able to lower it to have compression, have reflection or being able to absorb the sound (and) having isolation rooms so you can separate the sound when needed.”
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