A new real estate investment fund wants to help music venue owners buy their properties and stay in business as the pandemic and market forces decimate their earnings.
When the pandemic shut down live entertainment, music venues saw their revenues plummet as much as 90%, with many struggling to keep paying their bills. To help venues stay afloat, Dayna Frank, owner of First Avenue Music Hall in Minneapolis, worked with Grubb Properties CEO Clay Grubb to create "the Live Venue Recovery Fund, a pioneering program that provides eligible independent music operators with a 3 – 5 year roadmap toward purchasing their own venues." Rebecca Greenwald reports on the fund's efforts for Next City.
As renters, Frank believes, many venue owners are extremely vulnerable to "a growing affordability crisis and the whims of opportunistic landlords, and the looming threat of Live Nation’s growing influence and consolidation of the industry." The recovery fund aims to shift the balance of power and give venue operators a path to ownership. "Designed around an impact fund real estate model, the Live Venue Recovery Fund caps Grubb’s rate of return at 12%, after which any remaining returns are donated to the National Independent Venue Foundation, a nonprofit related to the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a trade association that was formed at the start of the pandemic."
"Rather than looking at the Live Venue Recovery Fund as an aggressive acquisition program," writes Greenwald, "Frank sees this as a resource and another option that venues have available to them as they navigate a challenging external environment."
FULL STORY: Will This Impact Fund Save America’s Music Venues?
How the 'Financialization of Housing' is Physically Changing Cities
The increasing investment value of real estate has led to tangible changes in the way buildings are designed and function, one author argues.
How Independent Music Venues Became a Powerful Lobbying Force
A group of venue owners formed in response to the pandemic successfully got a $15 billion support bill passed to help small venues stay afloat during the pandemic.
Zillow to Start Flipping Homes in California
Tech companies that use algorithms to make rapid offers on a large scale are growing players in the U.S. housing market.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.
Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.
Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.
MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.
Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie