“...in all of this mess, John [Marks] saw opportunity. He had a vision that this dilapidated, decaying behemoth of an eyesore could be transformed into an economically viable and thriving jewel. We spent most of the next four years working on that project. The transformation was remarkable. We had a blast making it happen.” – R. Kymn Harp, Intent to Prosper: Commercial Real Estate (2009) (Left) House of Blues Chicago on July 6, 2007. On September 14, 1995, developer John L. Marks, who the previous November had purchased the commercial property at Marina City for $3.35 million, and entrepreneur Isaac Tigrett announced plans for a 1,500-seat concert hall, 400-room hotel, nightclub, restaurant, and a dock for a boat that would be a venue for music and live entertainment on the Chicago River.

Born in Chicago in 1947, after growing up in Jackson, Tennessee, and attending high school in Switzerland, Tigrett started the first Hard Rock Café when he was 22 years old. The restaurant combined rock music, memorabilia, and American cuisine. In 1988, Tigrett sold his interest in Hard Rock Café for $30 million and used money from the sale to build the Sathya the Sri Sai Institute of Higher Medicine, a 500-bed advanced surgical hospital that was free to the rural poor in Andra Pradesh, India. The hospital is named for Sathya Sai Baba, an Indian spiritual leader of whom Tigrett was a devout student.

(Above) Isaac Tigrett (left) from an article about his private vintage railroad car, (center) from a 2009 article in American Way magazine, and (right) with his wife, Maureen, who died of leukemia in 1994.

In 1989, he married Maureen Starkey. Her ex-husband, Richard Starkey, is better known as former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. With Tigrett, she had a daughter, Augusta. In 1992, Isaac started HOB Entertainment, Inc., with actor Dan Aykroyd and designer James Cafarelli. Other HOB investors included Harvard University, The Walt Disney Company, and Chicago restaurant developer Larry Levy.

Tigrett and Aykroyd arrived at the September 14 groundbreaking ceremony in a vintage railroad car (above), on tracks located below the plaza that led to a loading dock at Marina City from Union Station. With him were more actors and HOB investors – Jim Belushi, the brother of John Belushi, who performed with Aykroyd as the original Blues Brothers, and John Goodman. They wore black suits, black hats, and black sunglasses. Left to right, John Goodman, Dan Aykroyd, and Jim Belushi, performing at House of Blues at Marina City on September 14, 1995. Said Goodman that night, “Chicago’s certainly the home of the blues, so we’re bringing the House of Blues to the home of the blues. I think it’s just one more jewel in the crown.”

“This was the city where blues got plugged in,” Aykroyd told the Chicago Tribune. “It became electric here in Chicago. And we’re going to electrify the city with this.”

Also making the train trip were blues guitarist R.L. Burnside, guitarists Steve Cropper and Matt Murphy, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, drummer Steve Potts, and Mayor Richard J. Daley, who was given by Aykroyd the honorary title of “fourth Blues Brother.”

Local musicians included Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, who himself had a blues club in Chicago. “I think it’s good for the blues,” said Guy. “Whatever can be done to help the blues, I’m for it 100 percent. I welcome them here with open arms.”

82-year-old Bertrand Goldberg, Marina City’s original architect, was also at the groundbreaking. Asked who his favorite musician was, he said Miles Davis.

Plans include hotel, river cruises...

HOB had sites in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, but Tigrett said Chicago would be the most important location. “Chicago is culturally behind the blues, and it’s an honor to be bringing something that people here love so much. We have to be careful to create something that people will be proud of.”

Tigrett said he looked around Chicago for two years before selecting the Marina City location. “To find a piece of real estate derelict and abandoned in the middle of a great city is extraordinary. It has the potential to be one of the great landmark locations.”

Even as The Blue Brothers performed what the Chicago Tribune described as “shtick-heavy renditions” of Flip, Flop and Fly and Money (That’s What I Want), Marina Towers Condominium Association was still appealing the decision of the federal bankruptcy court to sell the commercial property to John Marks. MTCA was also going to ask the city to deny Marks zoning rights to change the office building to a hotel.

But Marks was undeterred. “We have the title and the deed and we’re moving forward with great excitement,” he said.

He had an important ally. Bertrand Goldberg had defected from the rival group and agreed to work with Marks to convert the office building. Chicago was shifting from a manufacturing hub to a tourist center, and Goldberg said converting his creation to a blues-themed hotel went along with that.

Work on the theater building would cost $15 million and the hotel transformation would cost $38 million. The hotel would be the first House of Blues hotel for Tigrett, who was planning to open three more hotels in the U.S., targeting the 25-to-45-year-old age group. “Blues cruises” were also planned. Starting the following spring, boats would take people out for dining and music on the Chicago River. There was speculation, neither confirmed nor denied by Tigrett, that these boats would be riverboat casinos.

On December 14, 1995, the Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved the Marina City renovation plan. The zoning amendment was backed by 42nd Ward Alderman Burton Natarus. The City Council Zoning Committee and the full city council soon approved the plans. (Left) Burton Natarus, 42nd Ward Alderman from 1971 to 2007.

...glass dome and sky bridge A 30-foot high translucent structure would be built on the plaza between the towers, leading to the parking office, elevator, and escalators and down to restaurants, shops, and the marina. A new facade for the theater building would feature a porch, neo-classical columns and pediment, like at an opera house. The facade, said Goldberg, would reflect “the history of opera houses throughout the world.” (Left) A 1995 line print on paper by Bertrand Goldberg and Associates, detailing the east elevation. This is a view from the south. The west and east towers are shown on the left and right. House of Blues is on the left.

(Right) A wider view of the east elevation as proposed by Goldberg in 1995. (Click on image to view larger version.) Note the Greek columns in the design of House of Blues, sky bridge connecting HOB to an unnamed hotel, and the large escalator leading down to a health club. In architecture circles, these designs are generally considered amusing. Architecture historian David Jameson believes that an increasingly unsatisfactory relationship with Marina City’s new owners may have inspired Goldberg to express his frustration by giving the owners exactly what they wanted.

Improvements would be made to the landscaping and public walkway along the river. The marina would be turned into a center of operations for entertainment boats and water taxis. Restoration would include the 19-story parking ramps at the base of each tower. Correcting what Goldberg said was a flaw in the original design, new accessibility would be added for the physically impaired. Although never built, a driveway for exclusive use by condo residents was planned, possibly as a concession to MTCA. (Left) Aerial view of Marina City plaza from between the towers in 2007. An entrance to the lower levels is at left. The west tower is at the top of the frame and the theater building is at right.

HOB opened on November 23, 1996. In September 1997, plans were announced to turn the office building into a 360-room, 30-suite House of Blues hotel. John Marks’s Niki Development Corporation would be a limited partner in the hotel. Also involved in the deal would be Nomura Asset Capital Corporation, now known as Nomura Holdings Inc.

Retail space and restaurants would be finished in 1998. The total bill for redevelopment of Marina City would come to $125 million.

For Tigrett, differences of opinion with his fellow founders would inspire him to leave HOB in 1997. In 2007, House of Blues Entertainment Group was sold to Live Nation PLC, a spin-off of Clear Channel Communications, for $350 million. Tigrett currently lives in Prasanthi Nilayam, the main ashram of Sathya Sai Baba, located in South India.