The Cinema Chatham building at 210 W. 87th St., one of the South Side’s few remaining neighborhood movie houses, is headed to an online auction this month after sitting vacant for nearly two years. The single-story complex and its sprawling parking lot are being pitched to developers as a major redevelopment play, even as residents and aldermanic staff keep saying they want community-focused uses instead of another national chain.
Property size, lot, and zoning
The auction listing puts the complex at roughly 65,186 square feet on about 11.16 acres, noting it was built in 1997 and renovated in 2015. The sale is described as a receivership auction that will need both court and lender approval before it can close, and the site sits within PD 566, a planned-development district that allows flexibility for reuse. Those details are outlined in the offering materials on LoopNet.
Online auction, starting bid, and who’s selling
Brokers are running the sale through an online auction platform and are marketing the property as an opportunistic redevelopment site. Block Club Chicago reported that the offering includes a starting bid of $350,000. The listing comes with an offering memorandum and a data room for qualified bidders who want to dig into the numbers before raising a virtual paddle.
Neighbors push for arts, not another chain
Ald. Ronnie Mosley told Block Club Chicago the building "had sat vacant nearly two years," and said residents at community meetings have been clear that any reuse should prioritize arts, performance, and community programming. Mosley noted that previous auction attempts did not move forward, and neighborhood organizers are watching this round closely. Local advocates say a cultural or performance anchor could bring steady foot traffic and some life back to the 87th Street corridor.
Why the theater closed and who owned it
Cinema Chatham shut down in early 2024 after operators said the location "was no longer economically viable," according to the Chicago Sun-Times. At the time, the cinema was operating under an Emagine-branded franchise. Emagine later agreed to sell its U.S. operations to Belgium-based Kinepolis, which announced the deal in November 2025. Kinepolis said it plans to continue operating the acquired sites while the transaction moves toward completion.
Receivership sales can take months
Because this is a receivership offering, a winning bid will not automatically transfer ownership. Court and lender approvals are required before any sale is finalized. The auction platform and listing materials caution buyers to review the offering memorandum and data room carefully and to expect timing to depend on how quickly judges and creditors sign off. That extra layer of procedure helps explain why the building has popped back up on the market multiple times without a sale crossing the finish line.
What happens next
Developers and community groups alike will be watching the auction results to see whether a buyer tries to revive a theater, pursue mixed-use housing and retail, or go in a different direction entirely. Neighbors and local leaders say they plan to keep pressing for a creative reuse that restores cultural programming and helps anchor the corridor as the sale process plays out.
