Rialto future brighter with $5 million grant

A $5 million state grant for the Rialto Square Theatre took years to get and goes about half-way to covering fix-up costs for the 96-year-old theater, officials said Friday.

State legislators and Rialto management gathered to celebrate the biggest cash infusion for years in the downtown Joliet theater and outline potential uses that ranged from new theater seats to a sprinkler system.

“There’s a lot of history here, a lot of people who have been involved,” said State Rep. Larry Walsh Jr., D-Elwood.

Walsh said he has been working on state money for the theater since he became a legislator in 2012, and other legislators from Will County have been working on it, too.

“This was a long time coming,” Walsh said. “We worked very hard and diligently to get this money released.”

Actually, the money is not in the Rialto’s hands yet, Walsh noted. The process requires that the Rialto plan projects and line up contractors before the state distributes funds.

The Will County Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority, the board that oversees the Rialto, will begin working on a priority list for the funding, which must be spent on capital projects.

A 2019 analysis by the Rialto concluded the theater and adjoining offices need about $10 million in repairs and renovation, and theater officials noted that was done before costs went up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rialto Board Chairman Robert Filotto outlined potential repairs and upgrades, some of which were mentioned in August when the theater received a $1.4 million federal grant.

None of that money has been used yet, so the theater now has $6.4 million available for capital investment.

“It’s very needed. It’s long been needed,” said Filotto, calling the announcement of the state grant “an historic day, a landmark day in the history of the Rialto Square Theatre.”

Filotto outlined potential uses for the money.

“There’s not a short list of capital needs starting with the roof, which needs to be replaced,” he said.

The Rialto also needs to install a sprinkler system, Filotto said, noting theater insurance costs are going up because it doesn’t have one.

The Rialto has 40,000 square feet of office space that is not in use because it needs rehabilitation, Filotto said.

“If we can make that part of this plan, we will,” he said.

Filotto listed other projects that were outlined a year ago when the theater received a $1.4 million Shuttered Venue Operators Grant from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Disaster Assistance for pandemic recovery.

They include:

• “tripling the size of the women’s washroom and doubling the size of the men’s washroom” on the main floor of the theater

• replacement of theater seating;

• a new heating and air-conditioning system

Filotto made a point of thanking the city of Joliet for its continued annual contribution to the Rialto.

“We need that subsidy to run the place day in and day out,” he said. “We need that for our operating expenses.”

Walsh was joined by other state legislators, past and present, who, he said, were part of the team effort to get the Rialto grant.

They included Sen. John Connor, D-Lockport; Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood, Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, former Sen. Pat McGuire, and Will County Executive. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, a former senator.

“The last two years haven’t been good for the arts,” Connor said in a reference to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during which the Rialto was shut down for months. “This kind of funding is crucial so we can keep providing the arts for the next generation.”