Old River Road in Cleveland’s Flats East Bank has been relatively quiet since The Odeon Concert Club closed more than a year ago and the neighboring Frozen Daiquiri Bar & Restaurant soon followed. But the volume is due to rise again later this year after planned renovations are made to the three-decade-old concert venue (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
On-, off-again concert club to crank it up again
With a new owner, a new venue manager and some freshening up planned in the coming months, The Odeon Concert Club, 1295 Old River Rd. on the East Bank of Cleveland’s Flats, is due to begin hosting new live performances again, perhaps before the end of this summer.
In seeking a building permit, renovation plans for The Odeon were submitted yesterday to the city of Cleveland’s Building Department by Form Construction of Cleveland. The permit application shows a modest amount of improvements — $130,000 worth. But the plans outline a course of action to get shows back on the three-decade-old stage.
Planned interior alterations for The Odeon include a new main stage, an addition to the mezzanine, a riser on the main stage floor, new railings throughout the interior, new flooring throughout, all interior walls to be painted, existing bathrooms to be refreshed and additional restrooms to be built out. However, only interior renovations are planned. In the documents submitted to the city, no exterior improvements are shown for the 124-year-old former industrial building.
The Odeon opened in 1993 as a concert club in a former industrial building. It closed in 2006 but reopened in 2015 and has stayed in business until shortly after it sold in December 2022 to its current owner, an affiliate of Cleveland-based GBX Group LLC. GBX renovates historic buildings and helps other developers finance their historic rehabilitation projects.
In the coming months, The Odeon will gain a new main stage as well as new floors, new railings, painted walls, added and refreshed bathrooms and more (Wallpaper by scotty27a on Wallpapers.com).
GBX Group acquired the 7,789-square-foot concert club plus three parcels to the south of it along Old River for an undisclosed price. Next door to The Odeon is a small commercial building at 1313 Old River hosting the Men’s Healing Clinic and, next to that is a vacant restaurant space that most recently held the Frozen Daiquiri Bar & Restaurant. That space is being marketed for lease.
“Renovations to The Odeon, a historic concert venue in the East Bank of the Flats, are underway,” a GBX Group spokesman confirmed to NEOtrans. “The Odeon’s anticipated opening is in 2024, upon completion of renovations, though an opening date has not yet been scheduled. We are happy that The Odeon project is moving forward as we continue working on planning for our additional portfolio of historic properties along Old River Road.”
To reactivate The Odeon, GBX hired Tulsa, OK-based Kismet Koncerts, an event promoter and venue operator. Kismet Koncerts, led by Mike Brown, manages nine venues and The Odeon is their first venue they’re overseeing outside of the south-central United States — Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. GBX’s spokesman said Brown “intends to bring a plethora of shows from rock to country and local as well as traveling acts.”
“The Odeon is high on vivacious music and will host a plethora of performances every week,” Kismet Koncerts says on its Web site. “Boasting of a capacity of 1,100 GA (general admission) and 550 seated, impeccable acoustics and dramatic light accents, any concert is a treat to be part of at The Odeon. Rock music is at the core of this club’s history, but we have evenings dedicated to country music as well.”
The Odeon and its marquee still showed some upcoming events in December 2022 when the concert club was acquired by GBX Group. Now, after more than a year in silence, the club has a renovation plan for reopening (KJP).
Through the years, The Odeon has hosted many more unknown rock bands than it has famous ones. But it can still count the likes of Metallica, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Eminem, Björk, The Ramones, Mushroomhead, Iggy Pop, Weezer and Todd Rundgren among its many guests.
“Local favorites like Mushroomhead performed here in the past but many locals cannot stop raving about when beats from Metallica reverberated through The Odeon back in the day,” The Odeon’s manager said.
“GBX is excited about the reactivation of the Odeon, 1313 Old River Road, and other great assets in the Old River Road Historic District and about the next chapter for the East Bank of the Flats,” the GBX Group spokesman said.
Given their primary territory where most of their venues are located, it’s not surprising that Kismet Koncerts has many country and western music acts on its calendar. But it also has heavy metal rock bands like Drowning Pool and a comedian, Alex Reymundo. No events are shown on their online calendar after June.
A message left by NEOtrans with Kismet Koncerts wasn’t returned prior to publication of this article. James Carlucci, principal at Form Construction, referred inquiries to Kismet Koncerts.
All three buildings that were acquired by GBX Global 17 months ago appear empty, including the former Frozen Daiquiri Bar & Restaurant at right (KJP).
Kismet Koncerts selected Form Construction as its general construction contractor. Form Construction, located nearby on Scranton Peninsula, has been in business since 2019. It has had numerous clients in the short time, mostly seeking interior renovations. They include the Cloak & Dagger cocktail bar in Tremont, Wally Waffle in the Akron area plus several Starbucks locations, according to photos on Form Construction’s Web site.
After Cleveland, Wichita, KS is the largest city in which Kismet Koncerts operates a venue — The Crown Uptown Theatre. Actually, the city proper of Wichita has slightly more population in twice as many square miles than the city of Cleveland but Greater Cleveland has four times the population of Greater Wichita.
According to Oklahoma Secretary of State records, Kismet Koncerts LLC was formed on Dec. 1, 2022. Another company named Kismet Koncerts Cleveland LLC was formed on Dec. 28, 2022. Both companies are listed as inactive, meaning they are more than 60 days delinquent in filing an annual report. Their only affiliate shown as “in existence” is Kismet Koncerts Wichita LLC, formed Sept. 27, 2023.
No company named Kismet Koncerts Cleveland or similar has been formed in Ohio, according to Ohio Secretary of State records. Odeon Concert Club LLC was formed by its prior owner, Michael Tricarichi, and the company’s registration remains active, public records show.
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