The District could give Virginia’s Wolf Trap a run for its money if developers of the highly anticipated Southwest Waterfront project succeed in their vision of opening the city’s largest concert hall.
Monty Hoffman, the CEO of PN Hoffman, told The Washington Examiner that the development team has recruited the architect of Los Angeles’ Kodak Theatre to design a 5,000-seat music hall for the Potomac River waterfront. The size would make it larger than the DAR Constitution Hall, which is currently D.C.’s largest concert hall with a capacity of 3,702.
“We will have a high-quality, marquee venue here, [there’s] nothing else like it in the Washington region,” said Hoffman, whose company is co-developing the $2 billion project with Madison Marquette. “It’s going to be unabashedly a rock music hall.”
The venue is subject to city approval and would be situated near the more commercial end of the waterfront by the city’s historic Maine Avenue Fish Market. The project extends 26 acres from the market at the base of the Southeast-Southwest Freeway bridge toward Washington Navy Yard.
The concert hall would also host smaller events like conferences, but would not compete with nearby Arena Stage, home to some of the city’s most popular theatrical productions.
Hoffman said he’s not looking to compete with the Verizon Center, either.
“That [seats] 18,000 people, we’re not going to compete with that at all,” he said. “[But] we do believe it will absolutely compete with Wolf Trap.”
Wolf Trap’s Filene Center seats about 7,000, including about 3,100 patrons on the lawn.
Hoffman said developers have secured David Rockwell to design the theater, which he hopes will be an iconic building that mixes Washington’s classical architecture with modern rock themes. In addition to the Kodak, Rockwell has designed the W Hotel in New York City and the Hollywood set of “Catch Me If You Can.”
The concert hall would be part of the first phase of development, about 1.5 million total square feet, which is slated to kick off early next year and finish in 2016. Phase One also includes three hotels and 300,000 square feet of retail — with more than half being dedicated to various types of restaurants, cafes and a corner grocer.
“We’re not searching out national chains, it’s not going to be the Inner Harbor in Baltimore,” Hoffman said. “We are intentionally designing for the local community and the Washington region.”
