Stockbridge leaders plan to build a $15 million amphitheater next to City Hall to try to make the Henry County city a metro Atlanta destination.
The facility, which leaders hope could be up and running by late next year, will seat more than 3,000 visitors, offer a terraced lawn for guests, include a green room for performers and host two concessions buildings for dining. It will be a first in Henry and will be built by Atlanta-based H.J. Russell & Company.
“We don’t want to do just do an average amphitheater,” City Councilman Elton Alexander said. “We want to do best in class.”
But Harvey Newman, professor emeritus from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, said metro Atlanta’s supply of amphitheaters already outstrips the demand for them and that adding another dilutes the thin margins on which most operate.
“If you build it, they do not always come,” said Newman, who has studied the economic viability of convention centers and entertainment venues. “There are places that are just not going to be destinations.”
When built, the Stockbridge amphitheater will join several facilities already operating in south metro Atlanta. Fayette County has Zac Brown's Southern Ground Amphitheater in Fayetteville and The Fred amphitheater in Peachtree City while Clayton County offers the Amphitheater at Riverdale Town Center. The list also includes Spivey Hall at Clayton State University, one of the premier concert venues in metro Atlanta.
Credit: CITY OF STOCKBRIDGE
Credit: CITY OF STOCKBRIDGE
More broadly, metro Atlanta has concert and entertainment venues from downtown Atlanta to Alpharetta to Marietta. DeKalb added to that list this summer when it opened Rainbow Park, an open-air amphitheater that seats 1,000 people in Decatur.
About $5 million of the $15 million pricetag for the Stockbridge venue will come from SPLOST funds, said Stockbridge City Manager Randy Knighton. The rest of the funding will be financed through bonds or from proceeds of a new SPLOST that voters will consider this November.
Knighton said he doesn't think the competition will hurt the performance of a Stockbridge amphitheater. Henry is the second fastest-growing county in metro Atlanta — almost doubling in population in the last 20 years — and its residents want entertainment in their community instead of traveling to Atlanta or points north.
Over the last few years, Stockbridge has held events in a greenspace plaza across the street from City Hall that regularly attract 2,000 people, he said. The city’s most recent event — last month’s “Bridgefest” featuring rap pioneers Sugar Hill Gang — brought thousands to the city of about 29,000.
“There is a built-in audience who is patronizing city of Stockbridge events,” Knighton said. “We think with an amphitheater, that will just enhance our ability to provide these types of entertainment for all of our residents.”
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