Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre has announced a $7 million capital campaign to fund expansion of its theatre and facilities on North Halstead Street.

The 20-year-old theatre, one of the foremost regionals in the U.S., will build a 150-car parking garage/rehearsal space complex on a just-purchased vacant lot on the south side of the existing theatre.

The new structure, which will extend to the elevated railway tracks, also will include a rehearsal hall for the mainstage, a rehearsal hall for a New Plays Lab and Outreach Program, a costume shop, a sound studio, dressing rooms for the studio theater, working space for visiting designers, and expanded administrative and production offices.

The project's developer will own and operate retail space at street level.

The new building was designed by Daniel Coffey of Daniel P. Coffey & Associates Ltd. The campaign will have an artistic dimension as well. Part of the money will be used to launch a New Plays Lab and a fully-staffed , Literary Department, as well as expand the Steppenwolf's existing Studio Theatre season and the Outreach Program.