CLEVELAND — A battle for bands is shaping up on Cleveland’s riverfront, where a developer plans to build a 6,200-seat amphitheater designed for concerts, festivals and other events.
Bedrock and Rock Entertainment Group announced Thursday morning that they’re working on the project with Live Nation, the massive concert promoter and venue operator that runs the House of Blues Cleveland and Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls.
The amphitheater will sit just south of the new Cleveland Cavaliers’ practice facility, which is still under construction off West Third Street and Eagle Avenue. It’s part of a much broader riverfront redevelopment plan dreamed up by Bedrock, the real estate arm of Cavs owner Dan Gilbert’s Rock family of companies.
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“This outdoor amphitheater on the Cuyahoga River will be a dynamic community gathering place and a strategic investment in downtown Cleveland’s growing experience-driven economy,” Nic Barlage, Rock Entertainment Group’s CEO, said in a news release.
Barlage, who leads the umbrella organization for the Cavs, the Cleveland Monsters and Rocket Arena, also is overseeing Detroit-based Bedrock’s work in Cleveland.
Bedrock and Rock Entertainment Group said the amphitheater will be the city’s first new large music venue in more than two decades.
Jacobs Pavilion, which Live Nation used to run, opened on the west bank of the Flats in 1987 and has been renovated over time. Now operated by AEG Presents, the open-air venue has a capacity of about 5,000.
A spokesman for AEG Presents declined to comment on Bedrock's plans and the potential impact on Jacobs Pavilion.
"I don't think we need more venues," Cindy Barber, co-owner of the Beachland Ballroom and the nearby Treelawn Social Club, said in response to the news. "But I think that, you know, this is AEG versus Live Nation."
From Cleveland's East Side, she's watching the scuffle between major promoters — and hoping independent venues can maintain their foothold.
"We really have to all come together and try to figure out, how do we improve the music economy in Cleveland," she said. "Not just, you know, building amphitheaters."
There are other major live-music projects on the drawing board — with potential openings in 2029 or later. Early ideas for developing Cleveland’s Downtown lakefront include an indoor-outdoor music venue with 8,000 to 10,000 seats.
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Lincoln Property Company, which is working on plans for development around the new Cleveland Browns stadium in Brook Park, is eyeing a music venue and event center with a potential capacity of 3,000 to 4,000 people.
"The Cleveland concertgoer, in some ways, might benefit from that because there's gonna be competition," Barber said of adding more venues to the market. "But then sometimes, when there's competition, you're bidding a higher price to get that act in at your place. And that may mean that the ticket prices go up."
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Bedrock’s amphitheater could open in 2028, assuming construction starts this year.
A company spokeswoman said Barlage was not available for an interview this week.
“Cleveland has always been one of America’s great music cities,” Michael Belkin, Live Nation’s Ohio market president, said in the news release. “And this amphitheater is about raising the bar to match that legacy.”
He said a modern, open-air venue will help Cleveland compete with other regional markets for major tours.
“We’re giving artists another reason to play Cleveland, giving fans more of the shows they want close to home,” Belkin said.
The amphitheater will rise on a roughly four-acre site off West Third and Stones Levee.
Bedrock purchased part of the block in 2023, paying $2.8 million, according to Cuyahoga County land records. The developer bought the rest of the property this month for $3.75 million.
A Bedrock affiliate also owns the riverfront land across the street.
Now pitted pavement and old warehouses will be replaced by live entertainment, at a time when Bedrock and Rock Entertainment Group are focusing on experiences – instead of traditional retail – as an amenity to bring more people to Downtown.
Last week, Cleveland’s planning commission approved final designs for Cosm, a domed theater and immersive sports bar that Bedrock’s developing in the Gateway District, just up the hill. That venue is set to open next year at East Fourth Street and Huron Road.
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Rock Entertainment Group believes the amphitheater will bring thousands of people to the riverfront annually, generating almost $59 million in economic impact.
In a news release, Mayor Justin Bibb said the proposal “reflects the type of resident and visitor experience that we want here in downtown Cleveland.”
He applauded Bedrock and Rock Entertainment Group for their investments in the city, including Cosm and the forthcoming Cavs practice facility – a sports-excellence and medicine hub called the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center. That complex is scheduled to open next year.
Bedrock controls more than 35 acres of Cleveland’s riverfront. The company’s plans there call for expansive public spaces, a boardwalk and mixed-income housing – along with other buildings, though the outlook for office space is murky.
Last year, Bedrock won a $9 million state tax credit to help with site work and early phases of the development. The company’s tax-credit application mentioned the prospect of an amphitheater, along with a 17-story building that would include a hotel, a live music and entertainment venue, restaurants, retail and parking.
The status and timing of that mixed-use development project are unclear.
Bedrock did not release images of the proposed amphitheater. It’s being sketched out by Cleveland-based DLR Group and Blueprint Studio, Live Nation’s in-house design team.
Barber, who opened the Beachland in 2000, wants to see more support for small venues and emerging artists. She leads a nonprofit called Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present & Future, focused on helping the local music industry thrive.
She'd like to see direct trickle-down benefits from big venues, like a $1 fee per ticket that could go into a fund for independent stages that serve as a launchpad for artists.
"We're fortunate to have way too many cultural opportunities, from the Cleveland Orchestra and all the programming that's being done at the Cleveland Museum of Art down to really small, DIY venues that attract people," Barber said. "But how do you have enough population to make all that affordable? ... That's what I don't know."
And she has some thoughts on the riverfront.
"I would love to talk to the people at Bedrock," she said, "about what else they might be able to do down there to really help further the music economy."
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
