The city of Joliet will loan $2 million to the Rialto Square Theatre to ensure the 100-year-old theater can replace a heating and air conditioning system more than a half-century old.

Rialto Executive Director Wade Welsh told the Joliet City Council Tuesday that the new HVAC system now being installed is critical to the survival of the theater.

“That is the biggest problem that keeps me up nights,” Welsh said. “No HVAC means no shows.”

The Rialto started the project June 1, closing the theater until the HVAC project is completed on Sept. 15.

(Shaw Local originally reported the loan at $2.5 million based on a city staff memo that listed that amount. Finance Director Keven Sing said Tuesday that the amount in the memo was an error.)

Welsh portrayed dire possibilities if the Rialto was not able to complete the $9 million HVAC project and had to cancel shows.

“Our reputation in the industry is gone, and it will be impossible to bring future shows to the Rialto,” he predicted.

Actually, the Rialto had to cancel shows two years ago when the HVAC project was started and stopped because of an asbestos issue attributed to a contractor’s error.

The asbestos cleanup project ordered by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency cost the theater $1.7 million, which the Rialto is trying to regain through litigation with the contractor.

The amount of time it took to conduct the state-required cleanup was longer than planned for the HVAC project, which was then postponed until this year.

Whatever the Rialto gets through litigation will be used to pay off the city loan.

Whatever is not covered by the litigation will come out of future annual grants the city provides the theater, which are now at $475,000 a year.

The city could learn the outcome of the contractor litigation in coming weeks.

“The litigation is very close to being resolved, and I would say in the next 60 days it will be,” Rialto board Chairman Robert Filotto told the City Council.

Filotto said the $2 million the Rialto gets from the loan would be the last money spent on the HVAC project.

“There’s a very good chance we won’t need any of the city money,” he said, suggesting a litigation payout could be used directly to pay for the HVAC project depending on the timing.

The loan did not appear to be a hard sell to the City Council, which typically supports the Rialto.

“There’s not a bigger economic driver in downtown Joliet,” Councilwoman Susanna Ibarra said.

The city is making a big investment downtown this year, opening the new City Square right across from the Rialto with paver bricks laid into Chicago Street to create a connection between the theater and the square.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a beautiful City Square with no Rialto,” Ibarra said.

The council vote was 8-1 with Larry Hug being the one no vote.

Hug said the loan could obligate future councils to approve the annual $475,000 city grant to cover the loan.

The Rialto already is using previous city grants to cover $1 million of costs in the HVAC project, Welsh said.

A Will County grant is covering $3 million of the costs, and a state grant is covering another $3 million.

Welsh said the current HVAC system was built in the 1950s and 1960s and is long past its expected life.