Cleveland Breaks Ground on 6,200-Seat Riverfront Amphitheater, Due Open by Summer 2028
Live Nation and its partners have broken ground on a 6,200-seat outdoor music venue in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, and expect it to open by summer 2028.
The ceremonial groundbreaking took place on 10 November on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, according to Music Business Worldwide. The venue will be called the Cleveland Riverfront Amphitheater. Live Nation, the largest live entertainment company in the world, will run it once it opens.
The project is being developed by Bedrock, the real estate company, and Rock Entertainment Group, which also oversees the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. The two companies first unveiled the plans in February and named Live Nation as the operator at that time. The amphitheater is part of The Riverfront, Bedrock's plan to redevelop 35 acres of land along the river.
The design team is led by DLR Group, an architecture firm. It is working with Blueprint Studio, the in-house design and development group at Live Nation. An amphitheater is an open-air venue, usually with a stage, rows of seats and space for a lawn, and the partners describe this one as a large music venue.
The partners say it will be the first large music venue built in Cleveland in more than 20 years. They also project that the venue will bring nearly US$59 million a year in economic impact to the city. Economic impact is a way of measuring the spending that visitors and businesses generate, such as hotel stays, meals and parking, and it is a projection rather than a measured result.
The site sits beside the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center. The partners say that building will open in February 2027, a few months before the music venue is due to be finished.
What this means on the ground is that construction crews, designers and local suppliers will be working on the riverfront for the next two years or so. For concertgoers, the next milestone is the opening itself, which the partners have set for summer 2028. Until then, no dates, ticket prices or opening-season line-up have been announced.
