Emotions were all over the place inside a Rockville conference room Tuesday, as county council members picked at the scab that scored Silver Spring one concert venue but not another.
Council member Roger Berliner (D-District 1) was particularly pissed that the county didn’t holler at Seth Hurwitz, owner of The District’s 9:30 Club and a Bethesda resident, when talks with the Birchmere collapsed last summer.
“How is it that you could ‘look around’ [for another venue operator] and not pick up the phone and call the number-one concert promoter in the country?” Berliner barked almost rhetorically, never referring to Hurwitz by name.
Silence smothered the room as Tim Firestine, the county exec’s chief administrative officer, prepared to respond. “We didn’t feel it was necessary,” Firestine finally said.
It was that kind of day for both the legislative and executive arms of the county government. But how the county arrived at this day required a history lesson, one that shmeared blame across the board.
The process of bringing a nightclub to Montgomery County started back in the day in Bethesda, according to Firestine. A development project there itched for a public amenity, and the Alexandria, Va.-based Birchmere club was willing to scratch. When the unnamed developer proposed a Birchmere expansion for Bethesda, county council members gave it a thumbs up, Firestine said.
But the council’s approval of the idea back then, and its subsequent approval of getting the Birchmere to Silver Spring, gave the county exec’s office cart blanc to work the deal without accepting business proposals from other potential venue operators, Firestine argued.
The Birchmere project kept shrinking over five years of talks, drawing fewer and fewer patrons into the proposed Colesville Road concert hall, Firestine said. Meanwhile, the cost of installing a full kitchen kept rising, with the Birchmere unwilling to pitch in more cash. On top of that, local restaurateurs worried that a full kitchen inside the nightclub would mean fewer patrons in downtown restaurants.
As talks with the Birchmere began to disintegrate last summer, the word on the street was that Montgomery County was single and ready to mingle. According to Firestine, two small clubs — an unnamed blues joint out of New York, and The District’s Takoma Station jazz joint — hollered at the county, while venue operator Live Nation hollered at the Lee Development Group, which hopes to develop a club at the former JC Penney site.
But the county’s outreach for a new venue operator traveled along the grapevine, not through official announcements. That ticked off council member Marc Elrich (D- At large).
“I don’t believe that word on the street is how you run an economic development office,” Elrich told Firestine. “This falls between active recruiting and someone who just happens to walk through the door.”
Council member Berliner felt the same. “I don’t get this approach,” he told Firestine. “You act as if people were supposed to pick this up from the ether.”
But Firestine stuck to his guns, insisting that developer-recommended venue operators and closed-door talks were the deal since day one. “We are where we are,” he told the council. “It’s no different from the process that we’ve followed for this project from the beginning.”
Other council members were willing to live with the devil in the details. “I don’t know if it’s the best possible deal, but the risks are severe if we reject it,” council member Phil Andrews (D-District 3) said.
“The bottom line is it would be a money maker for the county in a few years. If this were not completed, there would be damage to the county’s reputation,” Andrews continued. “It’s met the test of being in the public interest.”
The county council holds a town-hall meeting this evening at the AFI Silver Theatre (8633 Colesville Rd) in downtown Silver Spring.
Photo of council member Roger Berliner courtesy of Picasa user Michael J. Bobbitt.
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Bring back the Birchmere. It’s a perfect fit for that site.
Thanks for your comment, Springvale. Please elaborate: Why is the Birchmere a better fit for that site over other venue operators?
The Council better not mess this up for us in downtown Silver Spring. The process may not have been the best but our county officials can learn from this situation and use the lessons learned in approaching future projects. However, this deal needs to get done before the powers that be take the money away and we will be left with nothing.
If Hurwitz were to open a music venue in downtown Silver Spring, it would be filled with second rate acts. All the first rate acts would go to his 9:30 club. Why didn’t he speak up when the county was negotiating with the Birchmere? Because the Birchmere’s music catered to a different crowd than the 9:30 club.
I believe that those folks who want to see Live Nation in DTSS should attend tonight’s public meeting at the AFI with the council members. You know the pro-Birchmere, pro-9:30 club folks will be there and they will surely voice their concerns.
Editor’s note: This comment was edited for content. — JD (Jan 30, 2008)
“Thanks for your comment, Springvale. Please elaborate: Why is the Birchmere a better fit for that site over other venue operators?”
Short answer: because I like the acts the Birchmere gets more than I do those that the Fillmore would get.
More seriously, but along the same lines. The 9:30 Club gets Fillmore-type bands (even 40-something geezers like me go there once in a while), and it is centrally located in D.C., meaning that both MoCo residents and NoVa residents can get it to pretty easily.
However, there are no centrally located venues that get the kind of music that the Birchmere gets, and as we all know, the Birchmere is a mighty haul from MoCo; even from D.C. it’s no joyride.
A Birchmere in DTSS would be great for a lot of people in D.C. and MoCo. Also, as a more mellow place than the Fillmore, it could attract more street traffic to that side of Colesville Road, methinks.
Places like the Fillmore are great, but they really should be a little bit out of the mainstream part of town, both because of the large and youthful crowds they’ll draw (youth are fine, but they are noisy and belch loudly), and because rock clubs ought to be a little scuzzy. Just think of what CBGS’s would have been like if it was across from the AFI instead of on the Bowery.
Phil Andrews is absolutely correct about the risks. I agree with WeCanDoBetter. Supporters of a music venue need to come tonight or otherwise express their support to the council. YOu can bet that there is no plan C if this falls through.
While some are arguing over the County Executive’s process or the club operator or the money or what is right/wrong for DTSS, an important element of the project plan has not been discussed:
Will a county-owned space that is leased to a private, commercial enterprise qualify as a “public use amenity” as part of a development project?
The generous land donation to the county comes with strings attached. Strings that the County Council must approve (via Zoning Text Ammendments, which are not supposed to apply to specific projects but often do). I believe that the plan is for two strings: 1) that the county guarantee that development rights for the remainder of the block be protected against downzoning or further restrictions for some period in the future, and 2) that the space qualify as a public amenity for the future development of the block. Perhaps that part of the plan has changed — an inquisitive Penguin should be asking!
Editor’s note: An inquisitive Penguin would ask, but I’m not sure I understand your question. Will the project qualify as a public amenity? I believe that’s the developer’s goal. SHOULD it qualify as a public amenity? I’ll leave that for readers to decide.
Regarding the zoning amendments needed to make this project happen, I don’t think they’ve been put out there yet. When they drop, this inquisitive Penguin will be all over them.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! — JD (Jan 30, 2008)
Actually, Zoning Text Amendment 07-10 was introduced last year and is currently under discussion by the Council’s PHED Committee. Under the proposed legislation, the donation of land to the County for a music hall would satisfy the normal Public Use Space requirement when the rest of the property is developed. The thinking is that this provision will enhance the Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District and help to activate area across from AFI.
Editor’s note: Thanks, Glenn! I’ll hit that bill ASAP. (BTW, Mr. Kreger is Silver Spring’s main man in the county planning department.) — JD (Jan 31, 2008)
Thanks Glenn!
Here’s the text:
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/council/pdf/zta/2007/07-10.pdf
For lazy readers, it essentially says that land conveyed to the county for a publicly or privately owned and operated music hall (or movie house, dance studio, theatre, arts space) meets the “public use space requirement” of the CBD optional development method. It also excludes the footprint of the donated land from the density calculation.
JD: The “should” part may raise some readers hackles. The ammendment could benefit small arts groups and mega-corporations alike. But wait till chip py tries to take photos inside the Filmore …
Editor’s note: As I said, I’ll leave it for readers to decide whether an entertainment venue should qualify as a public-use space. Personally, I’d rather see an entertainment venue, even retail space, qualify as public-use space over a pocket park. — JD (Feb 1, 2008)