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Chicago Illuminarium Interior Rendering CREDIT Rockwell Group

Illuminarium Will Open in Former Crystal Gardens Space at Navy Pier

Illuminarium Experiences plans to open an Illuminarium at Chicago’s Navy Pier. The 32,000-square-foot entertainment experience will be situated inside the former Crystal Gardens venue, which will be transformed into the fourth Illuminarium location in the U.S., joining Atlanta, Miami and Las Vegas.   

The initial design process of transforming Navy Pier’s Crystal Gardens into an Illuminarium has begun, under the direction of the architecture firms Rockwell Group and Perkins & Will. Illuminarium plans to invest more than $30 million in the redevelopment of Navy Pier.  Construction is expected to begin in early to mid-2022, with Illuminarium opening its doors to locals and tourists in Chicago approximately one year later. 

Navy Pier worked with JLL on leasing efforts and enlisted the help of managing director Peter Caruso and senior associate Courtney Rouleau to find the right tenant for Crystal Gardens. JLL EVP Adam Cody and SVP Matt Ramsey represented Illuminarium Experiences. 

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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