Exclusive: Live Nation to open new $40M concert venue at Music Factory in Irving

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The Pavilion at The Music Factory will be a concert venue that will have the ability to convert from an indoor music hall to an outdoor amphitheater.

Candace Carlisle

Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal

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After five years of waiting to fill a void in making Dallas-Fort Worth a major entertainment destination, Live Nation Entertainment Inc. is building a $40 million convertible concert venue at the Music Factory in Irving.

The development is being built in partnership with Charlotte, North Carolina-based Ark Group after Live Nation recently signed a 10-year agreement with the entertainment developer.

The venue — which converts easily from an intimate 4,000-seat concert hall to an 8,000-seat amphitheater — is being called the Pavilion at The Music Factory, which is part of the much-anticipated $165 million namesake that's currently underway in Las Colinas.

"This will be the centerpiece of the entire development," Bob Roux, president of North American concerts for Live Nation, told the Dallas Business Journal, in an exclusive interview. "The venue itself is an innovative and groundbreaking concept that we developed in order to ensure the maximum number of events are produced at the venue each year."

The convertible concert venue gives Live Nation the ability to bring in a wide variety of concerts ranging from A-list headliners to growing artists by using electronic doors that fold up horizontally before being lifted vertically at the back of the venue to open up in a panoramic view to the grassy lawn.

The ability to convert the facility into a heated and air-conditioned indoor theater into an open-air amphitheater within 30 minutes gives Beverly Hills, California-based Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) the ability to showcase performers year round, Roux told me.

And once developed, the Pavilion would join one of only a few convertible concert venues in the United States, he said.

The live entertainment company plans to hold 60 to 70 concert events at The Pavilion at The Music Factory each year. In addition to live concerts, Live Nation plans to work with The Ark Group to develop festivals on the 17-acre entertainment-anchored development.

The Pavilion gives Live Nation the ability to round out its venue portfolio in the region, which is the fourth largest metro area in the United States.

Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business.