ROCKVILLE — For those about to rock, the county at some point will salute you at its new Silver Spring music hall, a spokesperson for MoCo exec Ike Leggett said Monday afternoon.
“We’ve exchanged a few final draft contracts with developers, and we’re still in negotiations,” Diane Schwartz-Jones, assistant chief administrative officer for Leggett, told the county council’s economic development committee. “We’re working diligently on it.”
She couldn’t say more because the wheeling and dealing to construct a 2,000-seat venue on Colesville Road are still in the works. However, she indicated that negotiations would wrap soon, and that an announcement on who would design and build what was forthcoming.
The project, which hooked up the county with concert promoter Live Nation and the Lee Development Group, plants a new Fillmore music hall on what used to be a JC Penney department store. The state and county have coughed up a combined $8 million cash money to cover most of the publicly owned facility’s construction costs. Meanwhile, Live Nation will rent and run the joint, and will pick up the estimated $2 million tab to install interior stuff, like stage lighting and, well, a stage.
The Lee Development Group, which owned the JC Penney site, donated that piece of real estate to the county for the music-hall project. In exchange, the company can count the music hall as its required public-use space when it constructs a larger building on an adjacent parking lot along Georgia Avenue near Colesville Road.
Once the county seals the deal with whomever is designing this thing, the project must go before the county planning board for regulatory review. According to the county’s lease with Live Nation, the facility must be ready to roll by July 2010.
Photo: A poster announces the new Filmore venue on Colesville Road. Credit: J. Deseo/SSP.
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Did they say whether there will be charettes to include the community in the design process?
No mention of a charette.
Given the site’s relatively small size and configuration, plus the acoustic requirements of a concert hall, I’d say the county will pass on a charette process for this gig.
Get ready for more gridlock on Colesville.
Dear god I hope there are no charettes. No charettes would be a positive sign that this thing may actually get built soon, instead of in 2030.
Regarding the gridlock comment: Nonsense. The current parking garages are located in a way that it’s most convenient for drivers coming from both the north and the south to turn off Colesville (or Georgia) before approaching the venue.
Re: the charettes, I pretty sure Brent’s comment was a joke.
Ummm what the heck is a charette?
And bring on the gridlock if it means economic growth for downtown. Plenty of parking anyway, and walking is good for you, do it instead of driving to the Fillmore
With such a huge budget shortfall facing Montgomery County, I wish our elected officials would rescind the 4 million they are giving Live Nation. In the 3rd quarter of 2008, they made 1.5 billion in revenue! Its obvious they can afford another 4-8 million to build this cookie cutter nightclub in DTSS. Ugh.
Apparently Mike doesn’t realize that not everyone knows every Silver Spring side street when he claims gridlock is “nonsense”. Tell that to the people that try to get into that area and wait through countless red lights. A little traffic won’t be the end of the world. But why is the county still negotiating with the developer? Didn’t Leggett already strike his deal with the Lees when he pushed for this more than a year ago? What’s up with that?
what gridlock? In this economy we are becoming a ghost town and this project is never going to happen. Why? Ike Leggett and the council stooges and the idiot ED director could not close a deal if their asses depended on it.
Thanks for all your comments. JG asked:
Here’s a good description of a charrette (spelled with two Rs — my bad). The process was used to cook up designs for the new library and for the Silver Place project on Georgia and Spring.
Jayne asked:
The lease agreement signed last year identified the Lee Group as the project’s developer, but it doesn’t get into the nickels and dimes of the project. In fact, here’s what the lease had to say about actually developing the building:
What the county and the Lees are probably doing now is whittling down the exact construction details (ie, costs), as well as the architectural design.
Are you ready to rock?!?
so where is the Jennifer on the Fillmore?
Jayne, the garages I was alluding to are on Spring Street, Ellsworth and Wayne Ave. Since when are those “side streets”? Heck, the Spring St. garage sits right on the corner of Spring and Colesville, just as you enter downtown. Granted, from the north, but before the Fillmore location, the heart of downtown and its alleged gridlock. And yes, I drive through downtown SS every day to my job in the heart of D.C. and back, so I know a little about it. :-)
you give the county too much credit I doubt they are at the nickel and dime stage. How come we have not heard that the final agreement has been signed? I don’t see us rocking anytime soon.
Some of us really dull people walk to Whole Foods on Sat. evening, and trudge back, schleuping our groceries. Crossing Wayne Ave. is bad enough, due to lack of left-turn arrows.
If this thing is built, I will keep track of the schedule, and shop at other times. Extra police should be on hand for traffic and crowd control, and Live Nations should reimburse MoCo.
I hope the joint does not emphasize alcohol. Some near-beers taste great, and many cocktails can be made without booze. This planned venue raises enough pedestrian/vehicle conflict possibilities on its own. Besides, 1 or 2 drinks is enough for those who do drink.
Name me a single near-beer that tastes great.
I hope the place is a rocking night club that keeps the booze flowing and brings in an influx of people, money, and foot traffic to the downtown area on the weekends. A central business district/ downtown area in an urban environment should have places like this creating a viable nightlife on the weekends. If you want an area where you can shop in relative solitude on a weekend night, downtown Silver Spring may not be the place for you.
And I for one hope alcohol IS emphasized, we could use a few more bars and a few less hair salons. Perhaps people might be less likely to drive if they could catch that swank new light rail home!
Corona, I am not talking about doing anything in solitude in DTSS. I just want to cross the streets safely. I always cross at crosswalks when I have the “walk” light. If you want booze to flow, I hope you are rich and willing invest mondo moola into more taxis. I want to get drunken revelers safely home. They should not be driving, or careening around the sidewalks, knocking other peds all over the place.
I agree with Corona- let the booze flow.
Lets cut the Fillmore some slack. They haven’t even built the music venue yet and they are being associated with “drunken revelers”. The Fillmore is a professional organization and will ensure that things do not get out of hand.
Downtown Silver Spring is designated as an arts and entertainment district. The Fillmore will bring nightlife to an area that currently lacks one. If one cannot handle the crowds and noise that will come from a nightlife being created in DTSS, then I echo what Corona said- its time to move.
Corona, people, money and foot traffic are great if those feet are connected to a body that spends money in DTSS. Concertgoers may buy CDs at the show. It would be nice if they also bought CDs at Borders, and some books, too. They should dine at the local joints while they were at it. Heck, they should come early, before the concert and check out Fenton Village, buy some comics, plan to return with their clothing that needs mending & cleaning…but folks who are drinking a lot tend to not do such things. By the way, if concertgoers shop first, could they bring their purchases into Live Nation? I ask because I know of a theatre with a “no backpack” rule.
tj, it is just way uncool to tell another poster it’s time to move. People have a right to put down roots in a neighborhood. Adams Morgan used to be delightful. There was nightlife, but it was still a neighborhood with a great mix of indie businesses. Gradually, most those shops were taken over by bars. When the bars closed in the wee hours, the streets would get noisy. Car windows were smashed. I’m not saying DTSS will wind up that way. I am saying that there is a cost to activity that emphasizes alcohol. It can drive away productive economic activity, like shopping, instead of boosting it.
Add my vote to the “Let the booze flow” tally. A nightclub without booze is like a poker game without real money, i.e., pointless. Besides, you know them young’uns: they’ll come prepped for fun one way or the other.
DTSS needs more bars. I’m not advocating turning DTSS into Adams Morgan, but if you want foot traffic to support restaurants and shops, you need nightlife, and nightlife requires places to get a drink.
Play nice, and stay on point.
The question: Booze or no booze? Discuss.
BOOZE! and lots of it!
When the heck is Hook and Ladder supposed to open?
“Booze or no booze”? There is nothing to discuss. There’s no way they are going to build a nightclub without booze. Nightlife = alcohol. We can debate whether we want nightlife in DTSS or no nightlife but to talk about “nightlife that doesn’t emphasis alcohol” is absurd. That is not going to happen.
I vote yes on nightlife. There is no chance of DTSS becoming Adams Morgan. Realistically, think Bethesda or Arlington.
RE: the lease…the county has a golden opportunity to actually SAVE some money building the Fillmore. The contruction industry is now in dire straights and pricing will be extremely competitive. I’m all in favor of the Fillmore any negative aspects of more traffic will be more than offset by the further reviatalization of DTSS. The idea that “drinkers” don’t spend money on local establishements is just one person’s opinion. What we need is to continue to develop a vibrant walking downtown full of interesting shops, restauarants and activities for people of all flavors and interests. No one venue can create this, but when all these things are integrated, we’ll have the kind of Silver Spring many of us have been waiting for a long time.
Agree with jen. No way DTSS will become Adams Morgan. And asking a concert club to not focus on alcohol sales is a joke. I’m not a huge fan of Live Nation, but let’s be realistic here.
As a frequent customer of the 9:30 Club, I can say that you *should* expect local businesses, especially restaurants, to profit from having Live Nation around the corner. Plenty of people hit the restaurants on U Street before a show at the 9:30…and the restaurants in DTSS are closer and easier to walk to than U Street-9:30 Club. As a matter of fact, it’s *better* for local restaurants that the Birchmere was NOT successful with their proposal because of their seating rules, which require you show up early and eat their (horrible!) food if you want a half-decent spot to see the show without starving after work. I’m actually worried that my chances of getting a spot at the bar at Ray’s the Classics will be nil on show nights once the club opens.
As for the “more bars” question…YES!! But I like more laid-back, almost dive-y places where you can build a relationship with the bartenders and feel like a local…NOT places that cater to the drunken frat boy crowd.
I’m hoping that the Fillmore will offer a venue much like Clarendon Ballroom in Arlington. Or create the opportunity for a place like the Ballroom to open. Yes, yes, yes, DTSS needs more of a nightlife. On the occasions that my friends trek to Silver Spring, they are woefully disappointed on the late night scene.
But really, it’s not that bad — my roomie and I have had a few fun bar crawls. Sake at the sushi place; margaritas at Austin Grill, beer at McGinty’s, etc. But it needs more if I can ever expect my friends to come visit me more often.
Hmmmm….perhaps a Penguin-hosted bar crawl is needed to show off the boozeability in the Spring.
Maybe not a bar crawl, but I’m up for the occasional happy hour.
BTW, it’s good to see that Angel is a responsible drinker — liquor before beer.
ss_clubgoer wants:”more laid-back, almost dive-y places where you can build a relationship with the bartenders and feel like a local…NOT places that cater to the drunken frat boy crowd.”
Very intresting. This almost sounds like some of the joints local author George Pelecanos describes in his brilliant fiction. And these places sound appealing on paper, but I never go to bars, so I wouldn’t know. I do hope bartenders in the real world cut off the alcohol to a patron who is drinking too much.
About that drunken frat boy crowd, no neighborhood on the planet needs it.
Agreed. I will take the cursing mob of teenagers crowd over the cursing mob of drunken frat boys crowd any day of the week. Bethesda provides a pretty healthy dose of the latter on weekends nowadays.
I definitely don’t want you or people that share your beliefs to move LuvMyHood. You need a healthy mix of everyone to keep the balance, otherwise Silver Spring would become another Rosslyn.
I just feel that some of the nicer new additions over the past years probably have seen their fair share of opposition and reservations from the community. The entire Elsworth complex, additional bars like McGinty’s and Piratz, heck, even the new element that is arguably the most popular, Whole Foods, probably had some people back in the day that worried about the additional traffic, crowds, and other impact it would have on Silver Spring. I guess my point is that there is alot of good and benefit that has come from the growth of Silver Spring. Things like the Filmore and the Purple Line do have their potential negatives, but they also have the promise of making our growing community an even more vibrant place to live.
I doubt any of us will change your passionately held beliefs, but debating is much more fun that simply agreeing and nodding on everything anyway, so press on.
Editor’s note: Nice of you to say that, Corona! — JD (Jan 31, 2009)
“When the heck is Hook and Ladder supposed to open?”
Does anybody know the answer to this question? I saw some guys from Hook and Ladder in Adega around October giving away free samples and I asked. They basically said that MoCo (shock!)is making their lives hell and to look for them in the Spring. I looked into the old firehouse this weekend, there is absolutely no work being done. I really hope the morons who run this government don’t blow this, a Hook and Ladder restaurant would be great.
PS:
Maybe it’s just me but I think a sports bar like the Green Turtle would be perfect for the bottom level space in the new Veridian building.
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