Fillmore Not Final

Live Nation will be building a Fillmore in Silver Spring, Md., as far as developer Bruce Lee is concerned.

"We’re 100 percent committed to Live Nation," Lee, who is donating the land where the Fillmore will be based, told the Washington Business Journal. "I.M.P. asked me if they could talk to the county, and I simply told them, ‘Go ahead. It’s not my decision to make.’"

But I.M.P. battles on. The company that runs the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. and the Merriweather Post Pavilion does not believe Montgomery County acted in good faith when it made a closed-bid deal to bring the Fillmore to the area. A company spokeswoman told the Journal the company is "still engaged in the process" and "it’s technically not a done deal."

I.M.P. recently lobbied the state’s General Assembly. County Executive Isiah Leggett went to Annapolis to brief lawmakers on the process, State Sen. Rona Kramer told the Gazette community newspaper, and said his explanation was sufficient for her to decide to not reopen the process.

"The lobbyist questioned the way the agreement was made with Live Nation and implied that an opportunity wasn’t given to the 9:30 Club," Kramer told the paper. "We found out that this was an economic development deal and the county doesn’t need to put it out for a [Request For Proposals]. … In fact, the 9:30 Club people did have opportunities to approach the county with an offer and didn’t take it."

Lee has kept in the background as the project process has played itself out, the paper said, but is now speculating what it is he will do with the area near the Fillmore.

"We’re taking a lot of risk here," Lee told the Journal. "We’re donating valuable land for the music hall against future guarantees that could be governed by a different administration. We’re going with a pretend project, and we’re hopeful that the county will treat us fairly" and honor the current agreement.

Montgomery County and the state are expected to contribute $8 million to the project and Live Nation will contribute $2 million. The music hall could be ready by mid-2010, the paper said.