The Seattle-based Teatro ZinZanni hasn't given up on Chicago yet. But there is the whole snow question.

Come New Year in the fickle dining world, thoughts invariably turn to new restaurants. Entertainment venues, thankfully, don’t suffer the same kind of brutal turnover as eateries. But each year for the past dozen has thrown up a crop of new (or spectacularly renovated) Chicago theaters.

Of Chicago's major institutions, the only one with big plans on the books is Steppenwolf Theatre, which is in the very early planning stages of an expansion, probably filling in that surface lot directly to the south of the theater and also involving the unfinished parking garage farther south. Look for greatly expanded audience facilities, perhaps drawing on the model of Britain's National Theatre, with its bars, restaurants, bookstores and lecture spaces. Or that, at least, is what I think Steppenwolf should do, for the cultural betterment of Chicago.

Black Ensemble Theatre: According to founder and artistic director Jackie Taylor, the theater will break ground on its new North Side complex at 4440 N. Clark St. in June or July. Taylor says more than $13 million of the $15 million cost has been raised, which (with the help of financing) is more than enough to get the theater built. Nonetheless, Taylor says that she hopes to build a cushion this winter by fundraising for operating expenses. “I want to be sure,” Taylor said, “that we avoid debt and have enough money in hand.”

Good for Taylor. Raising $13 million in this climate is impressive, and BET was smart to scale back its original $20 million plans. BET has owned the land on this corner for some time and will build a theater space from the ground up; there will be 300- and 150-seat theaters, and a current warehouse building will house indoor parking space and office facilities. John Morris is the architect. Assuming no snags, come September 2011 Taylor will remount “The Jackie Wilson Story” in her new home, replete with original star Chester Gregory.

Theater Wit: I've been peeking my nose through the windows of the old home of the Bailiwick Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., watching the construction of the new space for Theater Wit. This is to be a three-theater venue (each with 99 seats) shared by various off-Loop companies, including Theater Wit, Shattered Globe Theatre, Stage Left Theatre and Bohemian Theatre Ensemble. From what I've eyeballed, there's a good long way to go yet. But walls are up, and there's a new concrete floor.

“Even after all this time, we are only three days behind schedule,” said artistic director Jeremy Wechsler. Theater Wit says it has spent $750,000 on the project and is running about $28,000 over budget, which is hardly atypical. “We plan on a space with a bar and a coffee house,” Wechsler said. “We want this to be a really nice neighborhood space where the audience has some ownership.”

The first show in the space will be a new play by Penny Penniston: “Spin” is slated to open April 21. Shattered Globe's spring show will open a week later. According to Wechsler, the theater is already 70 percent occupied through 2011. “This joint will be jumping,” he said.

Teatro ZinZanni: There were reports last year that the Seattle-based Teatro ZinZanni, a circuslike dinner-and-show concept with an outpost in San Francisco, was planning to put up its tent inside the new Block 37 development in the Loop. Then the developer of that space, Joseph Freed and Associates, found itself embroiled in a foreclosure suit. Things went quiet on the ZinZanni front.

But according to Sheila Hughes, ZinZanni's executive director of new business, the nonprofit still plans to create a permanent operation in Chicago in 2010. Maybe in Block 37, maybe not. “We're hoping to be there this year,” Hughes said.

Hughes said she is negotiating with several downtown spaces, and that Block 37 was not yet off the table.

ZinZanni works in tents in Seattle and San Francisco, and these tents are pitched outdoors. All year round. Hughes said that might work in Chicago, too, if ZinZanni could figure out how to handle the weight of snow landing on the roof. It would be easier, of course, to find a big indoor space capable of holding canvas, performers, audience and a kitchen. The tent is non-negotiable.

“A tent,” Hughes said, “is part of our experience.”

There's no question that either Block 37 or the Freed renovation of the old Carson Pirie Scott store desperately needs a performance venue. It is a major opportunity to enhance the downtown theater district that might not come again.

The city should help make this happen, for ZinZanni and any Chicago theater wanting to make a new move.