For years, a battle of wills raged between Chicago's mayor and developers of Block 37 in the city's Loop with regard to allowing movie theaters on the site: http://www.suntimes.com/business/630142,CST-FIN-block01.article.

Now the mayor has relented and current developer Joseph Freed & Associates LLC plans to bring a seven-screen, 800-seat complex to the area. How will this change the Loop's character, if at all?

The news has me elated. As a commercial real estate agent working in the Loop, just around the corner from the Block 37 development, the possibility of rolling out of the office to grab a drink and a movie is very attractive. I anticipate that the movie theater, surrounded on all sides by live theaters, will complement the "new media" focus of State Street. With ABC's studio just up the street and a high likelihood of CBS's studio drawing attention from pedestrians, broadcast and recorded media centers in the Loop stand to benefit from the existing theater district. We can't forget that the Gene Siskel Film Center is also located near the intersection of State and Randolph. Because they provide something very different than live theater, I feel that the two disparate groups can live together peaceably.