Save the Olympic Theatre: Stop the destruction of Cicero’s Last Piece of Czech History🇨🇿
The Issue
*The Olympic Theatre in Cicero, IL is depicted in the photo above*
Petition to Save the Olympic Theatre: Stop the demolition, neglect and future destruction of Cicero’s Last Piece of Czech History! 🇨🇿
Why This Petition Matters
To the Town of Cicero Board of Trustees, President Larry Dominick, and the Community of Chicagoland:
The historic Olympic Theatre (the Sokol Slavsky building) at 6134 W. Cermak Road is actively facing "demolition by neglect." The private property owner is intentionally letting this architectural masterpiece rot away, leaving it to decay because they simply do not care about our community’s heritage. We, the undersigned, demand that the Town of Cicero grant an immediate 6-to-12-month Stay of Demolition so that a community-led coalition can step in, stabilize the building, and execute a privately funded restoration to make this historic landmark alive and healthy again.
The Czech Immigrants Built Our Homes—We Must Honor Their Legacy
The Czech and Bohemian immigrants helped build Cicero and Berwyn from the ground up. They built the very homes that many of us live in today. The Olympic Theatre stands as the absolute last remaining massive monument of Czech history in this state. The nearby Parthenon Theater was torn down years ago. The original neighborhood Sokol halls are gone. If we sit by and let the wrecking ball destroy the Olympic Theatre, we are allowing the physical footprint and history of the people who founded this community to be completely erased.
Our Vision: A Multi-Use Cultural Hub
Tearing this landmark down will leave Cicero with nothing but a vacant, useless, non-revenue-generating dirt lot. Instead, our petition presents a realistic blueprint to turn this 74,000-square-foot eyesore back into Cicero’s crown jewel. Because the building is no longer suited for a massive modern cineplex, our plan creates a self-sustaining, hybrid community space all under one roof:
A Boutique Cinema: We will build a mini-theater inside featuring 1 to 2 intimate screening rooms hosting movies every other week. It will show everything from beloved classic films to modern releases.
The Nostalgic Lobby: The historic lobby will be fully restored, selling traditional movie theater food, fresh popcorn, and authentic Czech pastries to honor the venue's roots.
A Premium Event Venue: By clearing the main auditorium floor, we will create a magnificent banquet space to host local families for weddings, quinceañeras, and community galas, utilizing a motorized drop-down projection screen over the main stage.
A Mini Czech History Museum: The storefront sections along Cermak Road will be transformed into a permanent museum space to preserve local archives, immigrant stories, and artifacts for future generations.
HOWEVER, WE HAVE A BIG PROBLEM. THE OWNER OF THE BUILDING, ERNEO CARRANZA, DOESN’T CARE TO TAKE CARE OF THE BUILDING, nor does he care to remodel it and make it new again. He is stupid and ridiculous to let such a beautiful building with rich Czech history just rot away
Holding Negligent Ownership Accountable
We cannot allow corporate indifference to rob Cicero of its landmarks.
The Olympic Theatre building complex is currently tied to ownership that has shown a complete and total lack of care for the property. Following a devastating roof fire in 2018, the ownership deliberately walked away from the structure. They refused to invest in vital post-fire remediation, intentionally leaving the roof open to rain and snow, ignoring widespread rot and toxic mold, and failing to secure the perimeter from chronic vandalism and trespassing. This is a text-book, malicious exploitation of "Demolition by Neglect". ERNEO CARRANZA (the owner of the Olympic Theater in Cicero, IL) expects to sit back, let nature do the dirty work, and wait until the building decays into such a severe public safety hazard that the Town of Cicero is forced to pay for a taxpayer-funded wrecking ball.
The current handling of the Olympic Theater is a textbook case of "demolition by neglect," bearing a striking and terrifying resemblance to the business model of predatory real estate figures like Igal Namdar. Much like Namdar Realty Group’s infamous strategy of buying up properties, stripping them of maintenance, and letting them rot from the inside out to harvest tax write-offs while ignoring community blight, the entities managing this historic theater have systematically abandoned it to the elements. By allowing the power to be cut, leaving a catastrophic winter water pipe burst entirely unmitigated, and doing nothing more than putting a band-aid of steel window grates over a rapidly decaying asset, these owners are actively using time and rot as a weapon to destroy our history.
ERNEO CARRANZA is waiting out the clock until this building becomes so structurally unsafe that they are granted a rubber-stamped demolition permit, sacrificing Cicero's cultural pride for private financial convenience.
We cannot stand by and allow this predatory negligence to rob our town of its architectural soul, which is why I urge this council to intervene immediately. We must use every legal, code-enforcement, and eminent domain tool at our disposal to wrest this irreplaceable asset out of the hands of these negligent owners before it is too late. The Town of Cicero needs to actively hold them accountable for every broken ordinance, seize this property, and fast-track its transfer to a preservation-minded developer who actually views our community as a place to invest in, rather than a tax shelter to be bled dry. If we do not act today, the collapse of the Olympic Theater will not be an accident of history—it will be a monument to our collective inaction
We can stop this right now by demanding that the Cicero Town Board enforce strict property maintenance codes and utilize the newly enacted Illinois Receivership Act. Under this state law, the town has the explicit legal power to petition a court to strip control from a toxic, negligent owner and appoint an independent "receiver" to oversee the property. By utilizing this legal tool alongside a 6-to-12-month Stay of Demolition, the town can legally force the stabilization of the structure while our coalition coordinates with the Czech Consulate and real estate developers to buy out the parcel. We must stop this owner from running down our community assets for a future strip-mall payout. It is time to legally intervene, save our architecture, and hold negligent owners accountable!
Funding the Rescue Using OPM (Other People’s Money)
We are not asking the taxpayers of Cicero to foot a multi-million-dollar construction bill. Instead, we are using the OPM method to recruit wealthy private investors and real estate developers who care about Czech-American history. By utilizing a sophisticated combination of Federal and State Historic Tax Credits (HTCs) and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) incentives, we will guarantee these investors a massive long-term return on their investment.
We are publicly calling on major heritage networks—including the Czech Consulate in Chicago, the Bohemian Lawyers' Association, the American Sokol Organization, and the Prague Committee of Chicago Sister Cities—to step up, pitch in, and partner with our coalition to save this irreplaceable building.
Furthermore, our plan proactively solves local urban constraints. To protect Cermak Road from traffic jams, our business model relies on shared-use parking contracts with neighboring banks and commercial lots that sit empty during evening weekend hours, backed by a professional valet parking service.
Our Immediate Demand to the Cicero Town Board:
Do not allow a negligent owner to rob Cicero of its history. We demand the Town Board grant a temporary stay of demolition to allow our coalition to bring these major organizations to the table, conduct an independent structural engineering study, and prove that cultural preservation and local economic profitability can go hand in hand.
Berwyn and Cicero has already lost many historical Czech restaurants and buildings such as the Klas Restaurant, Old Prague Restaurant, The Czech Plaza and Vesecky’s bakery.
The only remaining piece of check history we have is the Olympic Theater in Cicero, Illinois. Let’s save it, remodel it and make it come to life once again!
Sign this petition today to stop the demolition, honor our history, and help bring the Olympic Theatre back to life!
15
The Issue
*The Olympic Theatre in Cicero, IL is depicted in the photo above*
Petition to Save the Olympic Theatre: Stop the demolition, neglect and future destruction of Cicero’s Last Piece of Czech History! 🇨🇿
Why This Petition Matters
To the Town of Cicero Board of Trustees, President Larry Dominick, and the Community of Chicagoland:
The historic Olympic Theatre (the Sokol Slavsky building) at 6134 W. Cermak Road is actively facing "demolition by neglect." The private property owner is intentionally letting this architectural masterpiece rot away, leaving it to decay because they simply do not care about our community’s heritage. We, the undersigned, demand that the Town of Cicero grant an immediate 6-to-12-month Stay of Demolition so that a community-led coalition can step in, stabilize the building, and execute a privately funded restoration to make this historic landmark alive and healthy again.
The Czech Immigrants Built Our Homes—We Must Honor Their Legacy
The Czech and Bohemian immigrants helped build Cicero and Berwyn from the ground up. They built the very homes that many of us live in today. The Olympic Theatre stands as the absolute last remaining massive monument of Czech history in this state. The nearby Parthenon Theater was torn down years ago. The original neighborhood Sokol halls are gone. If we sit by and let the wrecking ball destroy the Olympic Theatre, we are allowing the physical footprint and history of the people who founded this community to be completely erased.
Our Vision: A Multi-Use Cultural Hub
Tearing this landmark down will leave Cicero with nothing but a vacant, useless, non-revenue-generating dirt lot. Instead, our petition presents a realistic blueprint to turn this 74,000-square-foot eyesore back into Cicero’s crown jewel. Because the building is no longer suited for a massive modern cineplex, our plan creates a self-sustaining, hybrid community space all under one roof:
A Boutique Cinema: We will build a mini-theater inside featuring 1 to 2 intimate screening rooms hosting movies every other week. It will show everything from beloved classic films to modern releases.
The Nostalgic Lobby: The historic lobby will be fully restored, selling traditional movie theater food, fresh popcorn, and authentic Czech pastries to honor the venue's roots.
A Premium Event Venue: By clearing the main auditorium floor, we will create a magnificent banquet space to host local families for weddings, quinceañeras, and community galas, utilizing a motorized drop-down projection screen over the main stage.
A Mini Czech History Museum: The storefront sections along Cermak Road will be transformed into a permanent museum space to preserve local archives, immigrant stories, and artifacts for future generations.
HOWEVER, WE HAVE A BIG PROBLEM. THE OWNER OF THE BUILDING, ERNEO CARRANZA, DOESN’T CARE TO TAKE CARE OF THE BUILDING, nor does he care to remodel it and make it new again. He is stupid and ridiculous to let such a beautiful building with rich Czech history just rot away
Holding Negligent Ownership Accountable
We cannot allow corporate indifference to rob Cicero of its landmarks.
The Olympic Theatre building complex is currently tied to ownership that has shown a complete and total lack of care for the property. Following a devastating roof fire in 2018, the ownership deliberately walked away from the structure. They refused to invest in vital post-fire remediation, intentionally leaving the roof open to rain and snow, ignoring widespread rot and toxic mold, and failing to secure the perimeter from chronic vandalism and trespassing. This is a text-book, malicious exploitation of "Demolition by Neglect". ERNEO CARRANZA (the owner of the Olympic Theater in Cicero, IL) expects to sit back, let nature do the dirty work, and wait until the building decays into such a severe public safety hazard that the Town of Cicero is forced to pay for a taxpayer-funded wrecking ball.
The current handling of the Olympic Theater is a textbook case of "demolition by neglect," bearing a striking and terrifying resemblance to the business model of predatory real estate figures like Igal Namdar. Much like Namdar Realty Group’s infamous strategy of buying up properties, stripping them of maintenance, and letting them rot from the inside out to harvest tax write-offs while ignoring community blight, the entities managing this historic theater have systematically abandoned it to the elements. By allowing the power to be cut, leaving a catastrophic winter water pipe burst entirely unmitigated, and doing nothing more than putting a band-aid of steel window grates over a rapidly decaying asset, these owners are actively using time and rot as a weapon to destroy our history.
ERNEO CARRANZA is waiting out the clock until this building becomes so structurally unsafe that they are granted a rubber-stamped demolition permit, sacrificing Cicero's cultural pride for private financial convenience.
We cannot stand by and allow this predatory negligence to rob our town of its architectural soul, which is why I urge this council to intervene immediately. We must use every legal, code-enforcement, and eminent domain tool at our disposal to wrest this irreplaceable asset out of the hands of these negligent owners before it is too late. The Town of Cicero needs to actively hold them accountable for every broken ordinance, seize this property, and fast-track its transfer to a preservation-minded developer who actually views our community as a place to invest in, rather than a tax shelter to be bled dry. If we do not act today, the collapse of the Olympic Theater will not be an accident of history—it will be a monument to our collective inaction
We can stop this right now by demanding that the Cicero Town Board enforce strict property maintenance codes and utilize the newly enacted Illinois Receivership Act. Under this state law, the town has the explicit legal power to petition a court to strip control from a toxic, negligent owner and appoint an independent "receiver" to oversee the property. By utilizing this legal tool alongside a 6-to-12-month Stay of Demolition, the town can legally force the stabilization of the structure while our coalition coordinates with the Czech Consulate and real estate developers to buy out the parcel. We must stop this owner from running down our community assets for a future strip-mall payout. It is time to legally intervene, save our architecture, and hold negligent owners accountable!
Funding the Rescue Using OPM (Other People’s Money)
We are not asking the taxpayers of Cicero to foot a multi-million-dollar construction bill. Instead, we are using the OPM method to recruit wealthy private investors and real estate developers who care about Czech-American history. By utilizing a sophisticated combination of Federal and State Historic Tax Credits (HTCs) and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) incentives, we will guarantee these investors a massive long-term return on their investment.
We are publicly calling on major heritage networks—including the Czech Consulate in Chicago, the Bohemian Lawyers' Association, the American Sokol Organization, and the Prague Committee of Chicago Sister Cities—to step up, pitch in, and partner with our coalition to save this irreplaceable building.
Furthermore, our plan proactively solves local urban constraints. To protect Cermak Road from traffic jams, our business model relies on shared-use parking contracts with neighboring banks and commercial lots that sit empty during evening weekend hours, backed by a professional valet parking service.
Our Immediate Demand to the Cicero Town Board:
Do not allow a negligent owner to rob Cicero of its history. We demand the Town Board grant a temporary stay of demolition to allow our coalition to bring these major organizations to the table, conduct an independent structural engineering study, and prove that cultural preservation and local economic profitability can go hand in hand.
Berwyn and Cicero has already lost many historical Czech restaurants and buildings such as the Klas Restaurant, Old Prague Restaurant, The Czech Plaza and Vesecky’s bakery.
The only remaining piece of check history we have is the Olympic Theater in Cicero, Illinois. Let’s save it, remodel it and make it come to life once again!
Sign this petition today to stop the demolition, honor our history, and help bring the Olympic Theatre back to life!
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Petition created on September 14, 2026