HoB Heads To Seattle

House of Blues Entertainment and The Seattle Theatre Group have entered into a preliminary agreement that will develop a new HoB venue with the city’s downtown Paramount Theatre.

The planned House of Blues, slated to open in the first half of 2007, will be adjacent to the 2,800-seat Paramount Theatre, inside the nine-story Paramount Tower. Both are owned by the nonprofit Seattle Theatre Group, which also operates the city’s Moore Theatre.

After a period of renovation, HoB will open a multilevel restaurant, Foundation Room and entertainment space for patrons within the tower. HoB will lease the tower space for an undisclosed amount from The Seattle Theatre Group. This House of Blues is unique because the Paramount Theatre will act as its stage.

“In all other House of Blues clubs, House of Blues is responsible for booking the stage 365 days a year,” HoB Concerts Senior VP Jeff Trisler told Pollstar. “In this deal, The Seattle Theatre Group will continue to program the Paramount Theatre as they have for the past 12 years, which is a full array of different entertainment options besides just concerts and music.”

The House of Blues and Paramount Theatre will be right next to and on top of each other. “When you come to the Paramount Theatre, the first thing you see when you walk up to the theatre is a nine-story tower on the front of the theatre – that’s where the House of Blues club is going to be located, he said.”

“There will be ways to connect through the House of Blues and the theatre space.”

The project is still in the planning stages and more details, including renderings, will be available in the coming months, he added.

Vivian Phillips, who serves as VP of The Seattle Theatre Group board of directors, told Pollstar the Paramount Theatre will continue its agreements and arrangements with other promoters. Along with concerts, the venue hosts other events including Broadway shows, silent movies and dance performances, she added.

“House of Blues has been a partner with The Seattle Theatre Group for a number of years,” Phillips said. “They have booked shows in the Paramount Theatre for at least the last six years.”

The HoB restaurant will operate independent from shows in the theatre, which Phillips said will be an added amenity for downtown dwellers looking for a place to dine.

Another unique aspect of the venue is its convertible floors.

“We can essentially flip our main floor from rake theatre seating into a flat dance hall with a stage,” she explained. “Or, the floor can extend from the stage at that level all the way back to the wall.

“We can essentially do a concert on the flat floor in a traditional House of Blues configuration on a Monday, and open a Broadway show Tuesday.”

Trisler said HoB has looked at a number of different sites over the years and, in the end, the Paramount seemed like the best fit.

“Rather than building something new, we thought it was better to work together with The Seattle Theatre Group to make something that every fan of music and the arts would really appreciate,” he said.

In addition to the new club in Seattle, HoB Entertainment announced earlier this year plans for a new venue in Houston, which will become an integral addition to the $200 million Houston Pavilion project slated for 2007.

– Mitchell Peters