The Bowery Plans To Open A 3,500-Capacity Venue At Boston Landing

The Bowery Presents plans to open a 3,500-capacity music venue in Allston-Brighton.

The venue will anchor a new development at the 15-acre Boston Landing campus called "The TRACK at New Balance" along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Josh Bhatti, vice president, Boston at The Bowery Presents, said they've been in talks with New Balance for about two years.

"From a music industry perspective, for years that's been the one capacity size that agents and managers have been asking for us to give them," Bhatti said, "another option in town to look at, a general admission venue have 3,500 capacity. I think Boston being such a strong music market, we're seeing some growth in venues here around town. I think it's been a long time coming." 

For comparison sake, the House of Blues in Boston has a 2,500 capacity and the Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion (previously Blue Hills Bank Pavilion) has a 5,200 capacity.

The venue will not have a food and beverage component — that's something Jim Halliday, managing director of New Balance Development Group, thinks will help the rest of the retailers and restaurants on the street.

"I think what we liked about it was the energy that it would bring," Halliday said. "They're going to have the ability to accommodate different size crowds by moving the stage but maintaining the intimacy and the excitement level and energy level that the bands can thrive off of."

Located along Guest Street, the property is a former industrial area that once served as the region's largest stockyard. The campus is home to the New Balance World Headquarters, the Boston Bruins Practice and Training Facility, the Celtics Practice and Training Facility and companies such as Bose, Roche Diagnostics, Proteostasis and SmartLabs.

“We are proud to be part of the fabric of the Boston music community, and we are excited to continue our growth as part of New Balance’s new development at Boston Landing,” said Jim Glancy and John Moore, partners at The Bowery Presents, in a statement. “We take great pride in the business our team has developed in Boston, and this new venue will be an exciting new addition to the Bowery Boston family.”

This expands Bowery's footprint in Boston and will be the largest venue it operates in the city by far. The concert promotion and venue management company currently operates The Royale, which has a 1,200 capacity, in downtown Boston, The Sinclair, which has a capacity of 525, in Cambridge, and Great Scott, which has a capacity of 220, in Allston-Brighton.

This comes at a time when Boston has a number of new performing arts centers in the works. Last month, Harvard announced its intention to use a $100 million gift for Allston to "be home to one of the nation's great incubators of creativity." The university is considering a new home for the American Repertory Theater, along with a research and performance center, in lower Allston. Last fall, Fenway Sports Group announced its plan to open a 5,000-capacity venue in the Fenway neighborhood.

Developers expect to break ground on "The TRACK at New Balance" on April 1; the anticipated opening day for the concert venue is in fall 2021.