Music Promoter Live Nation's Maryland Concert Hall Plans: Done Deal or Not?

Does a Music Hall Equal Green Space?

The long-term lease arrangement between multinational music promoter Live Nation and Montgomery County, Maryland for Live Nation to operate a Fillmore-style music hall in Silver Spring, Maryland appears to be a done deal. But is it?

Signed last week, the lease provides for Live Nation to operate a music hall in downtown Silver Spring beginning in 2010. The term of the lease will be 20 years with options for 2 five-year extensions. Montgomery County meanwhile will build and own the venue out of which Live Nation operates if the transaction goes through as planned. Whether the Live Nation music hall materializes depends in part on a novel interpretation of land use law.

Predecessor Birchmere Deal Failed

The predecessor to the Live Nation deal didn't make it this far. For several years, Montgomery County negotiated with local area music hall the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia to open a location in Silver Spring. Legislation was enacted committing $8 million in public funds to the project. Community support buoyed the proposal. When the negotiations reached the penultimate stage and the community anticipated announcement of the signed agreement, a sudden reversal occurred.

Initially, there was talk of the deal being scratched over the prospective siting of two dumpsters in an alley behind the music hall. In the face of a community of raised eyebrows, the County quickly changed gears, attributing the breakdown to the alleged failure of the Birchmere to have signed a nonbinding letter of intent at the start of the negotiations. Whatever the real cause, the deal was off. County Executive Ike Leggett announced the impasse in the newspaper. The Birchmere owners said that was the first they heard of the deal's demise. They tried to revive the negotiations but Leggett stood firm and opened negotiations with the multinational company Live Nation, instead.