Navy Pier To Close Until 2021 Due To Cost Of Coronavirus Pandemic

CHICAGO — Navy Pier will close to the public until further notice after Labor Day, its operator announced Tuesday, as the financial costs of the coronavirus causes one of Chicago's most-visited tourist attractions to shutter for this year.

Depending on the status of COVID-19 pandemic, Navy Pier could re-open as soon as the spring of 2021, according to a statement from Navy Pier Inc., the private nonprofit that runs the publicly owned site.

“While this was a very difficult decision for the organization, it was a necessary one to proactively ensure the long-term success of one of Chicago’s most treasured and important civic institutions and the communities it serves,” said Marilynn Gardner, the president and chief executive officer of Navy Pier Inc.

“This decision will also help preserve the future of the many on-site businesses, which continue to face hardships of their own as a result of the pandemic," Gardner said. "The temporary closure will allow the Pier and its partners to reduce its operational expenses and support efforts to limit COVID-19 cases as we move into the fall and winter seasons.”

More than 70 local small businesses on the pier will have their operations halted, according to pier officials. All outdoor areas, including the docks and Polk Bros Park, located between the pier and Lake Shore Drive, will also be closed.

WBEZ, the public radio station that has a 99-year, rent-free lease for its offices and studios on the pier, will remain open, according to the statement.

From March 16 to June 10, the pier was closed to the public by state and local public health orders. Since its reopening, attendance is down by more than 80 percent. The pier's money-making Ferris wheel and other attractions have stayed closed.

Meanwhile, the cancellation of the trade shows, events and banquets normally booked at the pier has also cut into revenue. Last year, the pier generated about $60 million in revenue.

"The loss of these earnings has been devastating to the organization’s budget, resulting in a projected deficit of $20 million in 2020," pier officials said in a statement. "Navy Pier’s short-term closure will help limit further losses for the organization, as well as the businesses that are housed at the Pier."

Earlier this month, representatives of Navy Pier Inc. said the organization has cut the compensation it pays its top executives since the coronavirus closures, including reducing its CEO's over $541,000 annual salary. Tuesday's statement did not specify how many more positions would be furloughed or eliminated.

"Navy Pier will continue to implement cost reductions, including adjustments to staffing and/or employee work schedules, as well as changes to services provided by outside contractors," it said. "The timing and announcement of these adjustments will be based upon the financial status and needs of the organization."

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

Since then, the administration of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel diverted $55 million worth of tax increment financing earmarked for blighted areas to cover the cost of renovating the pier, a joint Better Government Association and Crain's Chicago Business investigation found.

The pier's 2019 operational budget did not include any additional taxpayer contribution from the state or city, according to its statement. It said its revenue was divided between 27 percent from tenants, 23 percent from attractions, 20 percent from parking fees, 13 percent from private events, 11 percent from corporate and philanthropic support and 6 percent from miscellaneous other activities.

Pier officials have used the public-private arrangement to argue the organization should be free from transparency requirements that apply to public bodies. After the pier's nonprofit operator refused to comply with public records laws in 2014, the Better Government Association filed a suit seeking to have it declared a public body. In 2018, a Cook County judge ruled in favor of the watchdog group, but the pier operator's appeal remains pending.

First envisioned by architect Daniel Burnham, the creator of the Plan of Chicago, as a "people's pier," Navy Pier opened in 1916 at a cost of $5 million in public money — the equivalent of nearly $119 million in today's dollars. During World War II it served as a training center for the U.S. Navy, and it later functioned as a campus for the University of Illinois at Chicago before being redesigned as a tourist destination in 1995.