The Avalon Regal Theater — the South Side's Moorish Revival jewel box that fell into decay after closing 16 years ago — is in line to get a $249,500 city grant to help fix up the landmark venue, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development announced Friday.The cash from the agency's Adopt- A-Landmark Fund would help pay for critical masonry repairs and rebuild the exposed brick substructure of a tower on the northwest corner of the 99-year-old theater at 1645 E. 79th St.Also covered under the grant would be the selective removal and resetting of displaced masonry, isolated repointing, temporary supplemental stabilization of the building and the isolated repairs on the theater's front facade, the department said.The theater is among three projects recommended for a total of $666,400 in repair funding under the Adopt-A-Landmark program. The others are Stone Temple Baptist Church in North Lawndale and the appropriately named Monumental Baptist Church in Bronzeville. Stone Temple Baptist Church in North Lawndale will receive nearly $200,000 for repair work from the city’s Adopt-a-Landmark Fund.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file The funding would be the theater's first significant public cash infusion since Community Capital Investment Partners President Jerald Gary bought the building in 2014 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for $100,000.Gary didn't return calls for comment. The Avalon Regal website, which features eye-popping interior photos, optimistically promises the auditorium will be open in 2027 and "full venue activation in 2028."Built in 1927 as the Avalon Theater, the building was designed by John Eberson, who modeled the work after an intricate metal Persian incense burner he found in a Royal Street antique store in New Orleans' French Quarter.The 2,200-seat Avalon Regal still dazzles, even in its tattered and disused state. The ornate street-side ticket booth alone is worth a look, if you're ever in the neighborhood. The beauty looks as if a genie would pop out if you rubbed the structure the right way. The Avalon Regal Theater’s ticket box still remains impressive after 99 years.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times And the colorful auditorium is pure escapism. It's sky blue ceiling and detailed plaster walls with turrets and minarets, are designed to make patrons feel they were watching a movie or a live show in an outdoor courtyard in an exotic land — rather than near the intersection of 79th Street and Stony Island and South Chicago avenues.The building was later converted into a church. But in 1985, Soft Sheen products founder Ed Gardner and his wife, Bettiann, bought and restored the theater, reopening it in 1987 as the New Regal.The revived live theater was named in homage to the legendary Regal Theater, at 47th Street and King Drive, that was demolished in 1973.The New Regal wound up in the hands in the FDIC after a subsequent owner went to federal prison for stealing $900,000 in state grant money that was supposed to fund a work training program at the theater.Landmarks Illinois awarded Gary and Community Capital a Preservation Heritage Grant in January 2016 for emergency exterior masonry repairs.And Preservation Chicago named the theater one of the city's seven most endangered buildings in 2012. The crumbling tower (left) will be repaired, as part of the rehabilitation work that would be funded by a $249,500 city grant.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times Preservation Chicago Executive Director Ward Miller said he hoped the Adopt-a-Landmark Grant "coupled with foundation grants will address the many needs to restore this cornerstone of Avalon Park, South Shore and South Chicago."Community Capital must submit updated drawings and project specifications to the city within 2 years to receive the funds.Meanwhile, Stone Temple Baptist Church, 3622 W. Douglas Blvd., a Romanesque and Moorish-inspired former synagogue, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once spoke, is set to be awarded $167,000 in Adopt-a-Landmark funding.The grant would help repair the parapet on the church's annex building, purchase new exterior doors and cover interior drywall and plaster work.And the 123-year-old Romanesque Revival-styled Monumental Baptist Church, 729 E. Oakwood Blvd., would get $249,900 for a new roof, downspouts and masonry work."Since 2016, more than $14 million in Adopt-a-Landmark Grant awards have been allocated for 33 historic preservation projects valued at more than $166 million," a planning department spokesperson said. ...read more read less