THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290285
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: 1995: YEAR IN REVIEW
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Construction began earlier this year on the second most sought-after tourist lure on the city's wish list - a 20,000-seat amphitheater.
It rated right behind a planned $35 million expansion to the Virginia Marine Science Museum, also now under construction.
Both items are part of the city's Tourism Growth Investment Fund initiative, a building program fed by special taxes on hotel and restaurant sales and amusement and franchise fees. TGIF was set up to pay for more than $93 million in resort improvements in the next 10 years.
The $13-million-plus amphitheater and the marine science museum expansion led a City Council priority list that includes a proposed $35 million expansion to the Pavilion Convention Center, the completion of $40 million to $60 million in resort streetscape projects, five or six tournament-caliber golf courses and a scenic Oceanfront walkway system.
The amphitheater is to be completed in April.
Once finished, Cellar Door Productions, the city-hired operator, will schedule about 40 concerts over the course of the year. Expectations are that the facility will attract music fans in much the same volume flowing into Hardee's Walnut Creek amphitheater in Raleigh, N.C.
The 96-acre Virginia Beach complex is being built adjacent to Princess Anne Park off Princess Anne Road and will feature prime national entertainment figures such as Dolly Parton, Jimmy Buffet, Whitney Houston and Michael Bolton.
Council approved a 30-year deal with Cellar Door, the nation's top concert promotion company, to run the amphitheater.
Cellar Door's resume includes amphitheaters in Richmond, Northern Virginia, Raleigh, Charlotte, Detroit and Milwaukee.
Bill Reid, who heads the Cellar Door operations in Virginia, urged the council three years ago to build a major entertainment theater capable of seating 15,000 to 20,000 spectators. It was a size big enough to attract big name entertainment, said Reid, and would generate $6 million to $9 million in revenues in a five-year period. A big chunk of that revenue would be returned to the city in amusement and sales taxes, he said.
In 1993, Price Waterhouse, a national financial services company hired by the city to look into the viability of the project, urged the council to move quickly to build an amphitheater before a neighboring city did it first.
- Bill Reed ILLUSTRATION: Staff file photo by MORT FRYMAN
The 96-acre Virginia Beach amphitheater complex is being built
adjacent to Princess Anne Park off Princess Anne Road. This photo
was shot in September. The project is scheduled for completion in
April.
KEYWORDS: AMPHITHEATER TOURISM by CNB