SEABOARD STREET OPENING CELEBRATION AND MAJOR TENANT ANNOUNCEMENTS!!

{ Photo by Justin Ruckman }

Today was a big day for the NC Music Factory and Uptown Village as we officially opened the new Seaboard Street extension with great fanfare. The celebration started with great live music from "The Swingin' Richards" and then speeches from developers and visionaries Rick and Noah Lazes, Thomas "Pop" Sadler, Center City Partners chief, Michael Smith and Mayor Pat McCrory.

Along with the opening of the new "Gateway to the Uptown Village", Noah Lazes capped the announcements with news of some major tenants that will begin to populate the entertainment spaces next summer.

"Butter Lounge" (above), the toast of Manhattan, will open location #2 here at the NC Music Factory as will dance club heavyweight, "Crobar" (below) who will now count Charlotte among other locations in New York, Chicago, South Beach, Buenos Aries and Beijing.  National daiquiri bar, "Wet Willies" will also join the fray in what will be their largest location to date!

THE FAMOUS FILLMORE MUSIC HALL COMES TO CHARLOTTE

The NC Music Factory announced Thursday that Live Nation will open a Fillmore Music Hall in the entertainment complex in uptown's Fourth Ward. The concert promoter will also exclusively book the music factory's 5,000-seat outdoor boutique amphitheater.

“Having the Fillmore brings a world-class recognition to Charlotte,” said Noah Lazes of ARK Group, which is developing the Music Factory. “The Fillmore is arguably the most respected club venue in the world, by artists as well as fans.”

And with Live Nation operating the venue, “it's the best. It's like having Microsoft running your company,” Lazes said.

The original Fillmore opened in San Francisco in 1965 and attracted such music acts as The Who, Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. Since then, Fillmore venues have opened in New York, Miami, Detroit and Denver.

Lazes says the 2,000-seat venue is slated to open in late spring or early summer.

The famed Fillmore Music Hall is joining the NC Music Factory in 2009 and will feature state of the art lights and sound to host 150+ concerts/year.

N.C. MUSIC FACTORY TEAMS WITH LIVE NATION*

ARK Group has inked a deal for international concert promoter Live Nation Worldwide Inc. to book events at ARK’s $27 million N.C. Music Factory in Charlotte, N.C.

Los Angeles-based Live Nation will schedule as many as 180 concerts each year at the development’s 2,000-seat concert hall and up to 30 concerts annually at its 5,000-seat outdoor amphitheater.

“It’s a major coup to have the largest concert promoter in the world working with us,” says Rick Lazes, chief executive of Cornelius, N.C.-based ARK.

The N.C. Music Factory is part of a larger mixed-use project called Uptown Village, which will eventually include a residential component as well. It is near interstates 77 and 277 on the site of a former textile mill complex.

This week, Seaboard Street was opened, providing a path into the 35-acre entertainment district in Charlotte’s Fourth Ward. Previously, the only way to reach the N.C. Music Factory was to maneuver along a gooseneck-like route around the hulking Archer Daniels Midland Co. soybean processing plant across railroad tracks.

In addition to its two music venues, the N.C. Music Factory will be home to offices, recording studios, and a host of bars and restaurants, including nightclubs Butter and Crobar and daiquiri shop Wet Willies. Several tenants have already moved in, and most of the entertainment venues are expected to open by the summer.

* Originally Posted on bizjournals.com