Benjamin Stutz, legislative aide to Coucilwoman Valerie Ervin, invited the Silver Spring Scene and two other fellow bloggers, to discuss the future music venue, (now officially LiveNation) on Colesville Road in Silver Spring with County Executive Isiah Leggett.

The following is Q&A from the various groups and the Leggett

Was it the Community that initiated talks with the Birchmere or was it the County?

A little bit of both somewhat of a “chicken or the egg” in what actually came first.

There was a discussion about a music venue and some community members thought, “hey the Birchmere would be a great fit”, different sections spoke with the County Executive at the time (Doug Duncan) and the discussion was ongoing for a number of years.

There was an earlier attempt to bring the venue over to Bethesda at the old Bethesda Draft House on Wisconsin Avenue but that fell through, then the attempt was to bring a music venue to [Silver Spring].

When I was a candidate for office I found it quite positive having music there, having the Birchmere there that was something that I wanted to see.

When ever you make an announcement about having a venue or any kind of commercial project you start with the negotiations then the fine details.…there was a discussion about how much the County contribution should be, at one point it was $5.9 million.

The venue was going to be around 800 seats with shared responsibility. Later…there were plans to add a second Birchmere venue in [Loudon County, Va] that reduced the number of seats [in Silver Spring] from 800 to around 450.

How large is the Loudon County Venue?

It’s in proposal stage.

Do you know what incentives Loudon County gave?

We haven’t gotten around to determine that.

So now there would be a Birchmere venue in Silver Spring, Loudon and Alexandra.
We’re now talking about the size of the music venue, the reason I say that is because one of the areas that we had discussion in is what is the nature of the music/entertainment venue that we will have?

In one of our earlier discussions with community groups they decided that they wanted a small, intimate, entertainment and dining venue.

The question is…how can you fulfill that and does that meet economic vitality that you want to achieve?

We have an investment of $10-11 million from the public/private parties involved. We never could get an agreement from the Birchmere to resolve this. What they would say about lease arrangements, what type of rent, insurance risk etc…

When you say you talked to the “Community” could you be more specific? Do you mean the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board.

No, it was a variety of [neighborhood] groups, about 23 people [heads] or so. The vision for the future was a small, intimate, entertainment and dining experience.

This is what I sold to investors, the county council. But how was it tied to economic vitality. If that was not strong or clear than any community in Montgomery County could say we want the same kind of experience.

Why was $8 million dollars asked of the State and the County. If the Neighborhood groups were so interested in getting the Birchmere in Silver Spring why couldn’t they approach the Birchmere and say “put up the money [yourself] and build it”?

Well to be honest, it could happen that way but what happened in this case, initially is that [Montgomery County] approached the Birchmere and said this is what we want to do to help make this happen

Was the Department of Economic Development significantly involved in the negotiations or did you, personally, talk with the Birchmere?

No, the Department of Economic Development.

What was is the difference between the Birchmere and LiveNation negotiations? Did the County approach LiveNation or did LiveNation approach Montgomery County?

After It became clear that we were not being successful [with the Birchmere] people started contacting [Montgomery County] .

So to confirm…LiveNation contacted the County?

Not only that but there were other entities that contacted us and said “hey we’re interested” some serious, some not so serious.

Can you release the names of those other venues.

No and here’s why, it’s been a challenge for us, many of those other entities are in lease arrangements and contracts and it’s hard for them to be in a position like that and negotiate to get out of a lease [for example].

Out of all the venues that have contacted you, do you feel LiveNation is the most exclusive in the D.C. area?

It’s one of the most competitive.

…There are certain things that we want [from the venue]…one is a community use facility. We lost the use of the Indian Spring Country club in Northern Silver Spring to hold a large number of public events.

We have to now go to Prince George’s County to hold Montgomery County sponsored events.

Having a facility that can also hold banquets, and even dinner theaters when it’s not used as a music/entertainment venue is something that I want.

Second a multiple use venue; meaning that it can hold individual parties etc

Aren’t you concerned that County/Community functions could hamper the ability of the venue to make money? Given that LiveNation made their name on different kinds of concerts, don’t you think that the County could hamper their ability to do that effectively?

We have to make certain that we have a contract and letter of intent that reflects our [County] views. We have to strike a balance and say there will be a certain number of days in a year where concerts will play and a certain number of days in a year where it will be County/Community use.

How does that work with the new Civic Center around the corner?

We have potential us of both given the size and scope.

You said this was about economic development, do you have a specific vision for that stretch of Colesville Road? We have AFI, Silver Theater, Round House Theater, Discovery Communications world headquarters and now a potential music venue side by side, do you see this stretch of area as a Broadway of sorts? How do you plan on connecting the dots?

I’m not going that far and say this is “Broadway on Silver Spring”, our objective is a little more modest than that.

So there will be the same monetary incentives as with the Birchmere?

Yes.

Is it safe to assume that part of the reason you called us three to this meeting is to get input from a younger demographic?

We see a variety of events, and one of the issues that quite frankly has been a concern is that if you look at the community, the community is a variety of demographics both in terms of age and culture and what we are trying to make sure is that future vendor will respond to all of those things so that you have a genre of music from Blues to Reggae to Go-Go to Rock for example.

We want to make sure that all of those voices are heard.

While some say Silver Spring is not family friendly, a growing number of people think Silver Spring is too family friendly. How does this music venue address that?

My view is to not say no to either one but respond to whatever we feel is appropriate for the social trends of both families and young people in a variety of outlets.

The request is for a small quiet, intimate, entertainment and dining venue but people also want money for schools, fire engines, police cars…I have to justify why I would put in [$4 million over 2 years] and ask the State for $4 million. If the state says what you have is insufficient and does not provide economic development what’s the incentive to do that?

That’s the dilemma.

Again…with the addition of the music venue, what is your plan to create a synergy on Colesville road with all of the existing entities side by side?

Whatever we do if it’s not successful it erodes confidence. If we have something so narrow that only a limited number of people can reside, with one particular direction than it will not be successful. If we broaden our uses it will be successful and tie in with the existing entities in Silver Spring.