A Jacksonville organization has signed an option to purchase the historic Illinois Theater building in the city’s downtown and has embarked on an ambitious three-month, $8.8 million fundraising campaign to finance the purchase and pay for the building’s transformation into a new multipurpose civic center.
“This civic center will become not only a cultural hub but an economic hub, and it will add to the renaissance that’s going on around the square,” said Jacksonville Center for the Arts Board member Larry Kuster. “It will create another reason why people should come to Jacksonville, not only to find opportunities for entertainment, but also to see this community as someplace where they can live and work.”
The Center for the Arts Board plans to exercise the purchase option from current owners Mark and Emily Hughes in November, and if that occurs, Kuster said construction to transform the building into a civic center could begin in 2026 and be complete by late 2026 or early 2027.
The board has already raised $500,000 toward the project, and due to the short timetable for action under the purchase agreement’s terms, the board has begun sharing information about the project with past and prospective donors.
Construction will keep the Illinois Theater’s historic Art Deco style elements while configuring the interior for multiple uses, Kuster said. The most dramatic changes will be to the main auditorium where the floor will be leveled and the stage raised to accommodate a variety of performances and other uses. A “black box” theater space will be retained and upgraded, and meeting and administrative space will also be added.
The original building on the proposed civic center site was constructed in 1892 as the Grand Opera House. It was renovated in 1927 as a movie palace and renamed the Illinois Theater. The original structure was demolished in 1939 and the current building constructed on the site.
The option to purchase the Illinois Theater building is the latest development in the push to establish a civic center in downtown Jacksonville. The Center for the Arts Board initially looked at the possibility of new construction on a vacant lot across from the Jacksonville Municipal Building.
“What became evident over time is that the price tag for that new construction was not going to be doable,” Kuster said. “So we terminated the idea of new construction, and it was at that point that the Illinois Theater became an option.”
The Jacksonville Center for the Arts Board hired a firm to perform a feasibility study for a new civic center and that study identified the need for such a facility in the community, according to board member Drew Snodgrass.
“There is an amenities gap in Jacksonville, and we need more infrastructure that supports cultural amenities,” Snodgrass said. “There’s a huge opportunity here because the arts and culture community in Jacksonville is thriving – we have the supply and demand – what we don’t have is an institution to bring everything together.”
Snodgrass remembers the community’s previous theater space in the Sophie Leschin Building on the former Jacksonville Developmental Center grounds, where “the theater guild was thriving and we packed the house dozens of times a year,” he said. “Even today you can see the demand for our summer concert series on the square that attracts big crowds, or the huge turnouts for performances at the Morgan County Fair. It’s not like people aren’t interested. Whenever somebody puts forth the effort to put on a cultural event, there tends to be a good uptake,” Snodgrass added.
The Illinois Theater is currently an operating commercial movie theater and Snodgrass said the board hopes that activity can continue if the purchase option is successful.
“Cinema, livestreaming and events are a very big part of our vision,” Snodgrass said. “We envision a very flexible overall space where we can show movies in either the new auditorium or the existing theater, plus do live performances and other types of events.”
The civic center plan is the latest development in the recent transformation of downtown Jacksonville. Local entrepreneur Rabbi Rob Thomas and Garrison Group, a Springfield-based commercial real estate firm, have teamed up to renovate many downtown buildings as combination residential and commercial spaces, and many new tenants have already moved in.
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In addition, the Jacksonville Area Museum in the old Post Office building opened in 2021 and is now in the midst of a project that will triple the institution’s exhibit area and transform the space into an immersive destination for visitors. A sneak preview of the museum’s construction progress will be offered during the city’s bicentennial weekend on Oct. 4.
“Jacksonville has gained a reputation as a place where things happen,” Snodgrass said. “It’s exciting to be part of this renaissance. I have four young kids, and I’m pumped about raising them in a town that keeps getting better over their lifetimes.”
Jacksonville Main Street is also excited to see new uses being found for the historic buildings downtown.
“The Jacksonville Center for the Arts has done a great deal of research developing their business plans and projections, based largely on surveys and public feedback, so this project looks to be very successful,” said Jacksonville Main Street executive director Judy Tighe. “Jacksonville has a long history of supporting the arts in a wide variety of forms, so having a facility that can accommodate many different types of artistic performances will be a fantastic economic and cultural attraction.”
Visit jacksonvilleartscenter.com for more information about the Jacksonville Center for the Arts project.
This article appears in SBJ August 2025.