United Properties has lined up Live Nation Entertainment Inc., which has struggled to compete with First Avenue in the Twin Cities club scene, to operate a music venue it plans to build near Target Field, the developer told regulators Tuesday.
The venue would be modeled and named for San Francisco's famous Fillmore rock theater and an attached hotel will be part of Marriott Corp.'s Element by Westin line, United executives said at a meeting of the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority.
If approved by regulators, United Properties will start work on the complex — on a corner of N. 5th Street and 6th Avenue N. that it calls Parcel A — this fall. The company aims to open the facility in the spring or early summer of 2019.
"Parcel A is really the gem here from a development perspective. In our eyes that's largely thanks to Target Field station itself and the transit that has developed in our community," said Rick McKelvey, vice president of commercial development for United Properties, at the meeting.
United Properties has already executed a lease with California-based Live Nation to operate the theater and estimates the Fillmore Minneapolis would host about 150 live events annually, McKelvey said. Live Nation operates a handful of Fillmore theaters across the country including in Miami and Denver.
He also said United Properties reached a deal with the Element by Westin, an extended-stay hotel concept, to operate the 155-room, nine-story hotel. The hotel is one story larger than what the developer discussed with city officials earlier this year.
The developer in April said the project would cost $45 million. No new cost estimate was given at Tuesday's meeting.
The L-shaped hotel would be connected to a four-story, 2,000-occupant theater. That would fit more people than First Avenue's main room, the premier concert space in downtown Minneapolis for decades, which has an occupancy of a little more than 1,500 people.
In front of the theater, United Properties wants to build a full-service restaurant called BG's, named for Fillmore promoter Bill Graham.
The project is still in the planning stages. United Properties is close to submitting its development application to the city, McKelvey said.
Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495
Twitter: @nicolenorfleet
