The Raleigh City Council approved Tuesday plans to build a new Red Hat Amphitheater.
The $40 million project aims to construct a 6,000-seat venue adjacent to the existing Red Hat Amphitheater downtown. Tourism officials say will attract bigger musical artists.
"Being smaller takes us out of the running from many of the acts that we get," said Kerry Painter, executive director of the Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex. "If an artist can do six, seven, 8,000 seats, then why would they come and do 3,000?"
The city will have to shut down one block of South Street to accommodate the new amphitheater. As The News & Observer reported last week, Boylan Heights residents support the new amphitheater project, but oppose the closing of South Street, which connects the neighborhood to downtown Raleigh.
The city should also consider the needs of cyclists and pedestrians, said Raleigh City Council Member Corey Branch.
"One of the things that we keep talking about downtown is making it more pedestrian friendly, and yet we're here to here fighting about the car traffic," Branch said Tuesday at the city council meeting. "So if we can really just highlight that and talk about how we're trying to continue the pedestrian and the bike, and especially for the kids coming downtown, being safe and crossing streets."
City officials say they looked at other alternatives for the new amphitheater, including an elevated structure, but they determined closing South Street was the most economically feasible option for the project. The Raleigh City Council will vote on the street closure at a meeting scheduled for Sept. 17.
