Rich Van Wyk/Eyewitness News
Noblesville - The Verizon Wireless Music Center, central Indiana's premier outdoor stage, is for sale. That could end concerts and festivals that have attracted big names and big crowds for more than a decade.
The area around the Noblesville concert venue is now a hot spot for commercial development.
With a reputation for keeping neighbors up late even in the off season, Verizon Wireless Music Center is making noise.
"I was a little sad. I've been going to concerts," said Nicholas Arterburn, a vice president of CP Richard Ellis. However, he is also pleased that his company is marketing one of the area's hottest development properties.
"There's just a lot of fast growing, a lot of energy going on up there," Arterburn said.
In the late eighties when Deer Creek Music Center was built off exit 10 of Interstate 69, Hamilton County was the middle of nowhere. Now Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, which owns more shopping areas than any company in the world, is building another practically right across the street.
Construction is under way on nearly one million square feet of retail space. Another project, targeting industrial, technical and biomedical firms, is going up next door. Across the street from Verizon is Noblesville's planned corporate campus.
Verison's owner, Live Nation, issued a statement saying it is continually evaluating real estate holdings and that "Regardless of whether a sale is completed or not, we are committed to the 2007 concert season."
What's the 203-acre concert property worth? "We're going to the market place with no price on it," Arterburn said.
Arterburn expects about a dozen offers by spring. Maybe then we'll know what's happening to a stage that's hosted the nation's biggest performers and some of Indiana's biggest crowds.
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