Access Contemporary Music's Lake View expansion halted after impasse with landlord

Access Contemporary Music is halting plans to open its fourth music school in Lake View, after reaching an impasse with its prospective landlord.

The nonprofit wanted to open a space for both music classes and performances at 4116 N. Clark St., a former 7-Eleven that’s long sat vacant. Last month, Ald. Angela Clay (46th) approved the groups request for a change from residential to commercial zoning.

But Access Contemporary Music said it was unable to settle on lease term revisions with the building owner Heidner Property Management Co., linked to Illinois video gambling mogul Rick Heidner.

Heidner Property wanted ACM to be “solely responsible for all building maintenance,” according to the music nonprofit’s Executive Director Seth Boustead. He said the organization couldn't risk taking on that responsibility. If structural issues were to pop up at the site, it could sink the nonprofit.

“It would be like having all the risks of owning the building without any of the rewards,” Boustead said in an emailed statement.

The outcome is frustrating, Boustead said. ACM’s lawyer asked for a revision to the lease terms, but he said Heidner's company refused.

Heidner declined a request for comment.

The nonprofit said it alerted Clay’s office to stop the rezoning process. It will also decline a grant from the city's Department of Planning and Development that would have covered 75% of the project's build-out costs, up to $250,000.

Boustead said without the grant it will not have funding to develop a new location. Its expansion plans are on hold for “the foreseeable future.”

“We're very interested in pursuing our idea of putting creative music programming into a neighborhood venue but without city or other support we don't have the resources to do so ourselves,” Boustead said. “Small non-profits just don't have the monetary resources that big chains have.”

ACM's Lake View location would have been its first “hybrid” space, featuring a performance venue and classrooms. The nonprofit has music schools in Avondale, Rogers Park and Ravenswood.

Plans by Chicago-based JDJ Architects showed three practice rooms, a green room and a performance space that could seat about 50 people. The main performance space would have doubled as a classroom, accommodating between 30 to 60 students.

ACM also planned to have a bar that would serve alcohol during performances, bringing in revenue to help cover rent.

Marketing materials for the 2,585-square-foot building listed the lease rate as $30 per square foot, which would’ve been “a lot” for ACM, Boustead previously said.