Brooklyn Paramount Reborn as Live Music Venue

PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE: Margaret Holmes, left, and Stacie George of Live Nation led the effort to restore, repurpose and reopen the Brooklyn Paramount. The Long Island University-owned theater reopens March 27 as a 2,700-capacity music venue. (Courtesy venue)

Over 50 Shows Have Been Announced at 2,700-capacity theater

The Brooklyn Paramount is due to reopen on March 27 in New York’s most famous borough following a multi-million dollar redesign that’s turned the nearly 100-year-old, Long Island University-owned Brooklyn Paramount from a gymnasium to a 2,700-capacity, Live Nation run music venue.

“It was the one capacity indoors we had been missing in our pipeline,” said Stacie George, senior vice president of Live Nation New York. “Next is (3,400-capacity) Pier 17. It fits nicely into our portfolio.”

The transformation of the historic theater was spearheaded by George and Margaret Holmes, general manager of Brooklyn Paramount.

“From the first moment that you walk in, and you see the Grand Hall and the chandeliers, and we’ll have some digital mapping on the ceiling. it feels very ornate and grand,” Holmes said. “You will have the original marble floor and original marble columns. You have this immediate wow moment when you walk in. I like to say the holy sh.. moment, but keep it P.C. and say, wow. You think that you’re in this amazing space, but then you walk into the actual theater and it takes it to the next level because you have 80-foot ceilings, all the original ornate sculpture and the detail is just unbelievable. It’s just such a beautiful room. So excited to bring that in and I’m excited to bring it in in a GA format because you just don’t have any venue like that in the market where you can have this beautiful experience, but still have NOFX on stage and a mosh pit and a crazy rock’n’roll time.”

There are over 50 shows on sale and more than 100 confirmed, George said.

The fun begins with Damian and Stephen Marley on March 17. Other shows on sale include PinkPantheress, Norah Jones, and Mariah The Scientist.

The building dates to 1928 and over the years hosted the likes of Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Chuck Berry, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Domino, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Little Richard, Miles Davis and Ray Charles.

Long Island University bought the building in 1954 and previously used it as classroom space and a gymnasium.

“When we took it over there, the basketball court was it was still on the floor ,” George said. “We’ve done quite a bit of work to restore the space to be a competitive music venue.”

Careful attention was also paid to preserving the nearly 96-year-old architectural elements, including splater sculptures and detailed scroll work.

“We have an in-house design team, Blueprint Studio, led by David Codiga,” Holmes said. Codiga serves as president of Live Nation’s global design and development team. “He and his team did all the design and kind of farming that out and then they worked with Arcadis architects.”

Holmes and George feel they make a pretty good team on both a personal and professional level.

“I came to New York 10 years ago to be the talent buyer for Irving Plaza, a club that’s in our portfolio, and Margaret, at the time, was the general manager at Theatre at Westbury,” George said. “She came back to be the general manager at Irving. So, we have worked extensively together for the last decade. Even though I’m not the sole booker for Irving Plaza anymore, there’s been a couple talent buyers that have done it since, we have worked really closely.”

Added Holmes: “We have a very honest relationship with each other,” she said. “Being on the venue side, sometimes we have different opinions of the way things should work. But at the end of the day, we have to remind each other that we have the same ultimate goal. It kind of works out to have a nice compromise. We’ve had some very honest conversations with each other, but we’ve always come to the best solution.”