A new concert venue in Jacksonville is expected to open in 2023 while big changes are planned for two others, including the Florida Theatre.
announced prior to the pandemic that has already seen all of the theater's seats replaced and upgrades made to the sound and lighting system. The new lounge — the first expansion of the theater's public space since it opened in 1927 — is being built in the office space part of the building.
It is large enough, with room for about 325 people, to be used as an intimate venue on nights when the theater is dark. The price tag for the new lounge is about $3.25 million, with the cost split between the foundation that runs the theater and the city, which owns the building. The next phase of the renovation project will force the theater to close for several months, likely July through October. During that phase, which will cost around $7 million, workers will renovate the restrooms, replace the building's heating and air conditioning, and repair and repaint the elaborate plaster ceiling in the main auditorium.The former Baptist church-turned-concert hall is getting a new balcony, but work probably won't begin until early 2024. The plan is to convert unused upstairs space into an area that will have permanent seats, giving the facility a lot more flexibility. Presently, the concert hall has some events with seats on the floor and others where fans stand through the show. With the new balcony, Pellicer said, the hall could put on shows where fans can stand on the floor or sit in the balcony, or shows where everyone is seated.As currently configured, the hall can handle about 480 seated fans or as many as 850 standing."We’re really shooting to get over 700 seated," Pellicer said."For standing, we’re wanting to get over a thousand total capacity." That doesn't sound like much of a change, but it's huge in terms of the type of artists the venue could bring in. "That's a significant difference," he said. The change would also allow the hall to offer more space between seats on the floor, which is something fans have requested. The project is still in the design phase, so Pellicer said it's difficult to say exactly when it will start or how long it will take to complete. The venue is owned by St. Johns County, which makes it a government project and complicates things. But they are planning to book shows through the end of 2023 while the design work is finished and contractors are lined up. A bonus of the project is that it should improve the acoustics in the concert hall. "There’s always a fear when you add a balcony that you lose a lot of your high-end under the balcony," he said."No one will be seated under the balcony. It will sound better than it currently does."St. Johns County also owns the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. No big changes are planned there in 2023, just maintenance such as painting and sandblasting that was put off during the pandemic.
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