Live Nation To Open New Fillmore In D.C.

SILVER SPRING, MD (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Tour promoter Live Nation has announced that it plans to open a concert hall in Washington suburb Silver Spring, on the site where the Birchmere Music Hall had originally been intended.

The new 2,000 capacity theater, to be dubbed The Fillmore, will a part of the Washington suburb's efforts to revitalize its downtown and an anchor in its newly refurbed entertainment district which also features AFI's remodeled Silver Theatre and the Round House Theatre.

Budgeted for $10 million dollars, $4 million each will come from Montgomery County and the State of Maryland with the balance coming from private investors involved with the deal. The club is expected to be opened for business by 2010.

"We're excited about Live Nation," Montgomery County spokesperson Patrick Lacefield told the Washington Business Journal. "We tried to get Birchmere and they wouldn't commit. We're signing a letter of intent today. We'll move from the letter of intent to negotiate a binding use by the end of the year."

According to the Washington Post the announcement of the Live Nation deal came close on the heels of a letter sent to Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett from Seth Hurwitz, expressing an interest in the property. Hurwitz is the head of IMP Productions, which operates The Merriweather Post Pavilion in Washington and Nightclub 9:30, one of the top ticketing clubs in the nation.

Leggett told the Post that Hurwitz' letter was "sort of at the last minute" and too late. "We've been out there and some people have come and talked to us, but this was the first I heard from them." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers