New downtown events venue will be ‘best of all worlds,’ Live Nation exec tells mayor

October 24, 2024

In a conversation with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe after a breakfast networking event at City Hall, Live Nation Entertainment’s Erik Hoffman said the National Capital Region was “overdue” for a place like the planned 2,000-seat hall.

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The company that’s building a new music and entertainment venue in the former downtown Chapters store plans to open the space to users from across the city in a bid to boost the local music industry and help revive the ByWard Market, one of its top executives said Thursday. In a conversation with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe after a breakfast networking event at City Hall, Live Nation Entertainment’s Erik Hoffman said the National Capital Region was “overdue” for a place like the planned 2,000-seat hall. Hoffman, the president of Live Nation’s Canadian music operations, called the 60,000-square-foot building at the corner of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive the “perfect spot” for the facility. “It’s a beautiful location,” he said, adding that while Live Nation will be responsible for managing the space and organizing much of its programming, other groups will be able to stage events there as well. “We’re not the only creative people around, so we want to create a venue that has a bunch of soul in it and feels very welcoming for other promoters to use,” Hoffman said. The National Capital Commission purchased the two-storey building, which was occupied by Chapters from 1996 to 2022, from a private Quebec company in late 2023 for $21.8 million. Live Nation Canada signed an agreement to lease the property from the NCC earlier this year. Hoffman said the company plans to start renovating the site next month and is aiming to have it ready to welcome performers by the end of next year. The venue will be designed to accommodate a wide range of live shows, Hoffman added, with general admission seating on the main level that can be expanded or reduced as necessary and a mezzanine and box seats on the second floor. “We really feel like this is the best of all those worlds, where you have a very premium space that has the flexibility to be seated for a comedy show or will be everything that you would see in a hip-hop or rock (venue),” he explained. “It’s kind of the best of a soft-seat theatre but with the soul of a nightclub. We feel like it’s going to be hugely successful here.” The Ottawa native said he hopes the venue will draw more visitors to the ByWard Market and breathe new life into a part of the city that’s often made headlines for issues such as crime and homelessness in recent years. A music industry lifer, Hoffman told the audience his affinity for the area goes back decades. He said one of his first jobs was being the sound man at The Pit, a tiny live music venue in the basement of a bar near the corner of Dalhousie and Rideau streets, when he was 16. “When it was in full form, it felt as good as any international city,” he said of the Market. “It was a hub of restaurants and entertainment, and it can absolutely be that again.”

'You don't have to leave here'

When Sutcliffe asked why Live Nation chose to invest in Ottawa, Hoffman said the city is home to “some of the best bands in the country” and already boasts a thriving live music scene headlined by popular events such as Bluesfest and the Ottawa Jazz Festival. “It’s a bit of an Ottawa thing to ask – ‘Why are you coming here?’” added Hoffman, who now lives in the Toronto area. “Why would we not invest here? It’s quite clearly (an offering) that’s missing from the market in terms of venues.” Ottawa’s live music industry suffered from a bit of an inferiority complex in the past, he suggested, but Hoffman believes it’s turning a corner. “When I see restaurateurs and musicians and folks like that staying here now, that’s a great sign,” he told the mayor. “You don’t have to leave here. There’s no reason to. It’s a great city. I’m reminded of it every single time I come back.” When Sutcliffe asked Hoffman what local officials could do to boost the region’s music industry, the executive said that providing more funding for the arts would be the “obvious answer.” But he said it might be a bigger help if city hall would simply “get out of the way” and let live music entrepreneurs run their businesses how they see fit. “If you really want to be a music city, like you’re actually serious about it, then it’s like, let’s not get hung up on the things that irritate creators – and that’s way too much policy, way too much red tape to do anything, and that was traditionally a problem here.” Hoffman said if the new venue succeeds, it could inspire other entertainment operators to set up shop in Ottawa as well. “I’m hoping that it’s like a bit of a flare in the sky for other people to invest here, and that fans don’t have to go up the 401 every time they want to see a big show.” Speaking to OBJ after Hoffman’s remarks, Canadian Live Music Association CEO Erin Benjamin called the new venue’s launch a “proud moment” for the local music industry. “I think it’s an acknowledgement of the ecosystem here,” said Benjamin, who’s been involved in Ottawa’s music scene for more than two decades. “Small, medium and large-sized performance spaces are what are required to build the careers of artists. It makes sense. To invite other promoters and even community (groups) into the space to use it is essential for our collective success.” The City of Ottawa's new nightlife commissioner, Mathieu Grondin, said he is pleased Live Nation plans to provide opportunities to performers managed by other organizations. “I think there was a lot of anxiety over this, that this was going to be a Live Nation-only venue," he said. "The fact that it’s going to be open for local promoters I think is very exciting.”