Live concert venue coming to Raleigh’s Downtown South. Is stadium still in the mix?
An indoor concert venue holding up to 3,500 people is the latest addition to the planned Downtown South project in Raleigh, developer Kane Realty Corp. announced Wednesday.
Downtown South is a joint venture of Kane Realty, the developer behind North Hills, and Steve Malik, owner of the North Carolina Courage and North Carolina FC soccer teams.
A 20,000-seat sports stadium was proposed for Downtown South when the sports and entertainment-focused project was announced in 2019. Plans for it remain unclear, however, as last year the developers said they have no “clear pathway” to paying for it.
“The stadium is in our long-term plans,” Bonner Gaylord, chief operating officer of Kane Realty, said in a previous interview. “We don’t have a clear pathway to get there. However, it’s absolutely our long-term goal.”
Kane Realty did not respond to email questions from The News & Observer on Wednesday afternoon, including whether the concert venue would replace the stadium.
But Bonner Gaylord, chief operating officer for Kane Realty, said on social media that the concert venue would be “a separate parcel from the stadium site.” He responded to a tweet from someone who asked whether the project would still include the stadium.
“Still no change on that front,” Gaylord tweeted.
Downtown South venue details
Kane Realty will partner with AEG Presents, a brand of the Los Angeles-based company Anchutz Entertainment Group, on the concert venue.
AEG Presents has entered into a long-term lease agreement to run the venue, which will be designed for both seated and standing shows and also be available for private events, Kane Realty said in a news release. Its rooftop will include a rooftop lounge.
Construction will begin in the spring of 2023, with an expected completion in fall 2024.
“We are thrilled to partner with AEG Presents on a unique music venue at Downtown South. The company is a leader in live entertainment and their decision to create their next venue at Downtown South speaks volumes about the district,” John Kane, CEO of Kane Realty, said in a news release. “As Raleigh grows, it will be important for us as a city to keep pace with the demands for entertainment options — we believe that the size and flexibility of this new venue will fill a critical gap.”
Kane pointed to the success of new venues operated by AEG Presents in Atlanta and Denver.
Shawn Trell, chief operating officer and executive vice president of AEG Presents, said in a news release that Kane Realty is a “partner who shares our vision for opening a state-of-the-art live music experience in this thriving market.”
The new music venue will be less than two miles from the Red Hat Amphitheater, which seats just under 6,000 people. Red Hat, originally built to be temporary, could go away when the convention center expands, which likely won’t happen until 2030. On Wednesday, a city spokesperson said the amphitheater might be incorporated into the convention center expansion.
The Downtown South venue is smaller than Red Hat, and there has been some talk that a Red Hat-size venue could also go in Dorothea Dix Park.
Where Downtown South stands
Site work will begin later this year for two previously announced mid-rise buildings in the $2 billion Downtown South development at the southern entrance to Raleigh’s downtown core.
The site is south of Dorothea Dix Park on parcels totaling 135 acres around South Saunders Street and Interstate 40. Construction will be underway for the planned mid-rises in early 2023 and be move-in ready in 2025.
All together, the project’s first phase calls for 535,000 square feet of office space, 650 residential units in a mixture of housing, 120,000 square feet of retail and a 140-room hotel, according to Kane Realty.
