The Jefferson County Commission this morning approved the county’s share of funding for a planned new $50 million, 9,000-seat amphitheater at the site of the demolished former Carraway hospital in Birmingham.
The county voted to spend $5 million toward the cost of building The Star at Uptown amphitheater just north of Protective Stadium. The money will come from its economic development fund.
The amphitheater will complement the Uptown entertainment district that already features the new Protective Stadium, a refurbished BJCC Legacy Arena, TopGolf, the Westin and Sheraton hotels and a variety of restaurants.
Corporate Realty plans to turn the former hospital campus into a $300 million-plus multi-use development with office, retail, entertainment, hotel and residential space in north Birmingham.
That includes the planned amphitheater that will be owned by the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center and managed by Live Nation, which currently manages the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham. Once the Birmingham amphitheater is built, Live Nation plans to shutter Oak Mountain Amphitheatre and book its regional concerts for the downtown Birmingham venue.
The Uptown amphitheater is expected to host a minimum of 17 to 19 concerts a year, beginning as soon as 2025.
Birmingham, Jefferson County, the BJCC, and Live Nation have each committed to making a one-time $5 million contribution for a $20 million paydown on construction costs. The BJCC would borrow $30 million over 30 years to fund the remaining construction costs.
With the public investments committed, the main steps left to begin construction are finalizing agreements with the management partner Live Nation, and the developer, Corporate Realty, and executing the financing, said Tad Snider, executive director of the BJCC. “All this looks to be coming together nicely,” Snider said after Birmingham approved its $5 million commitment on Jan. 31.
The City of Birmingham’s agreement with Northside Redevelopment LLC set the city’s total funding of the project as not to exceed $12.35 million of the overall estimated cost of the $346 million Star at Uptown development that includes the amphitheater.
The allocations included an initial $4.1 million already paid by the city to Northside Redevelopment for land acquisition, demolition and blight removal, and a supplemental $3.7 million in the form of a forgivable loan for completion of demolition and blight removal; and up to $4.55 million in incentives from future tax revenue.
Demolition is underway on the 50-acre campus of the former hospital where the amphitheater would be.
The four parking decks on the campus will not be torn down and are planned for use for parking for the future development including the planned Star amphitheater.
The Birmingham City Council voted in 2020 to re-zone the former Carraway Methodist Medical Center campus, setting in motion a redevelopment that has been years in coming.
The Birmingham City Council on Dec. 29, 2020, approved a $13 million incentive package for the redevelopment of the former Carraway Methodist Medical Center site.
Jefferson County has also agreed to provide a guarantee of up to $10 million in the event of shortfalls on the debt service, as a backstop on the financing, Commission President Jimmie Stephens said.
The Star development is several blocks north of Top Golf and Protective Stadium along Carraway Boulevard.
Carraway hospital closed in 2006, and the campus continued operating as Physicians Medical Center until closing in 2008.
See also: Carraway Star development includes building new houses north of planned amphitheater
First building goes down as demolition at Carraway progresses
State tourism to give CVB $3 million to support $50 million amphitheater at Carraway
Birmingham approves $3.7 million to complete Carraway demolition