Madison Square Garden owners explore D.C. for a new venue
By: Elinor Flynn
Examiner Staff Writer
August 16, 2009
The company behind one of the world's most famous arenas -- Madison Square Garden -- is eyeing Washington as a site for a new entertainment venue.
Steve Moore, the executive director of D.C. Economic Partnership, said Madison Square Garden Entertainment contacted his office earlier in the summer for an introduction to the Washington marketplace.
"They have the sense that D.C. is a place that is changing," Moore told The Examiner. "So they basically said 'Teach us the city for couple hours.' We showed them different neighborhoods and talked to them about what's going on."
Jack Evans, D.C. councilman for Ward 2, said he also met with MSG officials, though he hadn't heard from them recently. He said that he believes an MSG venue, if one opens in Washington, would have seating "in far excess" of other theaters in his district, such as the 2,450-seat Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center and the 1,847-seat Warner Theater.
After the downtown Verizon Center, which holds 20,173, seating capacity at concert and entertainment venues in the Washington area drops significantly.
George Mason University's Patriot Center seats 10,200; the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts seats 3,868 under its outdoor pavilion; and DAR Constitution Hall holds 3,702.
A spokesman for Valerie Santos, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said D.C. would benefit from a new major entertainment venue.
"We are trying to become a world class city and world class cities have premier entertainment districts," Sean Madigan said.
Other theaters already in D.C. are less enthusiastic.
"There are over 70 performing arts theaters in the D.C. metro area, so there is already a lot of competition for entertainment dollars," said Janice Hill, director of the 1,250-seat Lincoln Theater on U Street NW. "I'm not going after the same artists that [MSG] can afford, but at the same time, there's a finite amount of disposable income and we'd be competing for that."
In addition to Madison Square Garden in New York, MSG Entertainment also owns Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater, as well as the historic Chicago Theatre in Chicago.
Representatives from MSG declined to comment on their D.C. search.
In 2007, Montgomery County commissioned a study that found the market would "readily support" a multiuse arena there, with a capacity of up to 10,000. But county officials never went forward with the idea.
