The Coachella Valley’s live entertainment scene took a major step into its future last year with the opening of Acrisure Arena, which has seen the likes of Harry Styles, Stevie Nicks and Cirque Du Soleil all make stops there in its first year.
On Tuesday, the arena’s owner and operator announced it is taking over the management and booking of another new venue that is aiming to make a similar splash, albeit on a smaller scale: Palm Springs’ Plaza Theatre.
The new agreement between the Palm Springs Plaza Theatre Foundation and the Oak View Group will see the group take over the management of all aspects of the city-owned theater, including booking and event promotion, according to a press release announcing the partnership.
It states that Oak View Group will be charged with booking the highest quality concerts, theater performances, children’s programs, fundraisers and other events, including music, film and ideas festivals. The city council earlier agreed to have the foundation oversee the restoration.
The Denver-based Oak View Group is a sports and entertainment company that has been involved in the development or management of several new arenas, including NHL hockey arenas in Seattle and suburban New York and the new basketball arena at the University of Texas.
Since it opened in December 2022, Acrisure Arena has become an eastern force in California's crowded entertainment scene by pairing a popular minor league hockey team with a crowded schedule of concerts and events that sometimes rival those at big city venues such as Los Angeles' Kia Forum or even Crypto.com Arena.
However, those big name shows have, predictably, come with costs. Some bemoan that ticket, concession and parking prices also have more in common with those venues than peer minor league hockey arenas and similar mid-sized markets, although the Coachella Valley's proximity to Los Angeles and other wealthy markets and status as a popular and glamorous tourist destination complicate such comparisons.
The Plaza Theatre, meanwhile, is a former movie house in downtown Palm Springs that was built in 1936 and later served as the home of the Palm Springs Follies. It has sat mostly unused since the Follies ended their run in 2014. In 2019, JR Roberts, a former Palm Springs city councilmember, started a campaign to raise funds to renovate the theater and bring it to the standards of a modern performance venue.
After years of fundraising, Roberts said last year that the effort had nearly secured funding for the project, which was going through design work and the city permitting process. However, the project’s future was briefly thrown into doubt last year when bids from firms seeking to do the construction work came in about $10 million higher than previous projections.
The Palm Springs City Council ultimately voted to provide the additional $10 million, which increased the city’s total contribution to about $20 million but with the stipulation that it ultimately be repaid about half that amount. The foundation is continuing to raise money from donors in order to fund that repayment and says it would provide naming rights to the theater to a donor who gives $10 million.
A spokesperson for the theater confirmed to The Desert Sun Wednesday that its seats are in the process of being removed, with construction to begin after that. A ceremony celebrating the start of construction is planned for next month.
The release announcing the deal states that Oak View Group will also work with the foundation to make recommendations about the design of the theater and lead the development of its food and beverage offerings and the hiring and training of staff.
Under a pre-existing agreement with the city, the city council will also be able to host theater programming at its discretion for 21 days each year. The release states that programming will include the annual State of the City address and civic and cultural programs.
The release also states that the theater will “support and serve non-profit organizations such as the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Modernism Week and One-PS.”
Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at [email protected].
Update, Feb. 14, 2024: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the theater's ownership.