West Dundee music theater has a buyer
After nearly two years years of sitting vacant, the foreclosed Clearwater Theater in West Dundee has secured a buyer, one who will keep it going as a venue for live music.
What’s more, the buyer may also acquire the neighboring M.T. Barrels Restaurant and Brewery building on 98 Main Street that’s been empty for at least three years, Village Manager Joe Cavallaro said.
Kevin Krak, president of Gallant Construction, has emerged as the buyer of the Clearwater Theater. He could not be reached for comment Friday.
West Dundee marketed both buildings together as an “opportunity to merge two establishments to create a new unique dining and entertainment venue.”
Officials are hoping to replicate the success Palatine has had with Durty Nellie’s, an Irish pub that also offers live music.
The theater and restaurant/brewery buildings occupy a key corner in downtown West Dundee and filling them puts the village’s downtown another step towards becoming an entertainment destination.
‘There’s a great amount of synergy that can be created between the two buildings,” Cavallaro said.
The popular concert venue had been around for about 10 years.
Before that, it was the Dundee Theater. It was vacant for five years before Clearwater moved in.
Before it closed in 2011, the theater, at 96 Main Street, featured local, national and regional musicians, as well as comedians and other entertainers.
The theater was listed for sale three weeks after the village revoked its business and local liquor licenses, which forced its closure.
Officials said employees had been selling alcohol without a state liquor license — records show the business last applied for one in March 2010.
A special investigator from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission found out about the lapse during an audit and notified village officials, which took action against the theater’s previous owner.