Proposed to rise just north of the Lorain-Carnegie Hope Memorial Bridge, seen at upper-left, is a new outdoor amphitheater sought by Bedrock Real Estate and Live Nation. The Cuyahoga River is just beyond Stones Levee Road to the lower-right (Bedrock). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Demolition of old warehouses pending
The developer and operator of a proposed riverfront amphitheater in Downtown Cleveland submitted their preliminary, conceptual plans for the project to the city, revealing the proposed layout and amenities of the planned venue.
Bedrock Real Estate, the developer, and Live Nation, the operator, seek to build a 6,200-seat amphitheater at West 3rd Street and Stones Levee Road. NEOtrans broke the story in January about Bedrock’s property acquisition and cited insiders who said an amphitheater was the probable use of the land.
Bedrock has started developing its $3.5 billion, nearly 40-acre downtown riverfront vision in phases, including riverfront plazas and boardwalks, public venues, residential, retail, hotels, offices and supportive infrastructure.
But the amphitheater, set on 4.1 acres of Flats South land, is a new arrival to Bedrock’s vision. Its plans show the new amphitheater will have upper- and lower-bowl seating, indicating the beginning of a variety of price-segregated audience services, settings and amenities within the venue.
For example, after arriving at the main entrance at West 3rd and Stones Levees, those with upper-bowl/general admission tickets will use the main food and beverage counters and dining area plus regular restrooms. There are multiple food and beverage kiosks planned.
With north at the top of this overall site plan, the proposed amphitheater is shown in the context of its surroundings, from the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center (including the Cleveland Cavaliers’ new practice facility) at upper-right and Cleveland Whiskey’s distillery, tasting room and planned restaurant to the left (Bedrock).
Those holding premium-priced VIP tickets will have a separate entrance at West 3rd and Central Avenue, almost directly below the Lorain-Carnegie Hope Memorial Bridge. After VIPs enter, they will have an outdoor VIP drinking and dining area, VIP food and beverage counters and even VIP restrooms
Planned is a stagehouse that will surround and protect the stage from the weather as well as offer gantries for lighting, sound and pyrotechnic effects. There are multiple back-stage spaces behind the stagehouse offering artist suites, crew quarters and loading areas for trucks and buses.
One important design piece of the proposed venue is how a canopy over the lower bowl could be designed. Right now, there’s a placeholder shape standing in for the as-yet undefined canopy.
Such a canopy can be a signature piece of architecture like the 60,000-square-foot canopy at the new Acrisure Amphitheater in Grand Rapids, MI or the white steel canopy over the Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park in Austin, TX.
Or, in our own backyard, Blossom Music Center is defined by its distinctive, large, sloping slate roof canopy, designed by architect Peter van Dijk to blend with the natural wooded surroundings of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Rotating 180 degrees the image at the top of this article gives us this view, looking inside the stagehouse from the south and through a canopy whose design has yet to be finalized (Bedrock).
The proposed downtown theater is oriented so that the audience will see the Cuyahoga River’s Collision Bend and the Downtown Cleveland skyline beyond as a dynamic backdrop behind live performances at the new amphitheater.
In that way, it is similar to its competition to-be, the 4,153-seat, 39-year-old Jacobs Pavilion farther down the river on the West Bank of the Flats. Beyond its sail-like canopy, the audience is treated not only to the live shows they came to see, but also to occasional large, passing ships.
And it is even more similar to the 5,000-seat Tower City Amphitheater that stood across Stones Levee from 2001-12 until it was demolished for employee parking for the then-Horseshoe Casino Cleveland (now JACK Cleveland Casino) which opened in May 2012.
Bedrock’s planned venue likely means the end of its proposed $500 million Rock & Roll Land hotel and theater complex on Huron Road, west of Ontario Street, according to a source familiar with Bedrock’s evolving Riverfront plans and who spoke with NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity. A hotel is still in the works, however.
A more detailed, albeit still conceptual layout of the potential amenities, services and features of the proposed downtown riverfront amphitheater (Bedrock).
To make way for the amphitheater, Bedrock has hired Trifecta Services Co. of Charlotte, NC to demolish two old, vacant warehouses measuring 22,338 square feet. They are located at 401 Stones Levee Rd., across West 3rd from the under-construction Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center.
Cost of demolition is estimated at up to $350,000 according to a permit application submitted to the city Building Department on March 24. Cost of razing the one-story block-and-steel warehouses is relatively high because it is a “complete demolition.”
“The project is a complete demolition including slabs and foundations,” wrote Bogna Chester, a production manager at Trifecta Services in the permit application, which is still under a staff review.
Michelle Jarboe of WEWS News5 Cleveland was first to reveal the plans of the proposed amphitheater by sharing them late-yesterday on social media.
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