Toledo officials want more time to review a plan allowing a new firm to take over ProMedica’s summer concert series in 2024.
City Council on Tuesday moved to the Regional Growth Development and Small Business Enterprise Committee a proposal to approve a license agreement with HBC Management.
Under terms of the proposed agreement, the company would utilize downtown Toledo’s Promenade Park next year to arrange and sponsor ticketed concerts and related entertainment events that are open to the public.
After the meeting, Councilman Nick Komives said he’s excited about the proposal but he would like more time to ensure local community events on the site would continue even if the city were to enter into an agreement with HBC Management. Questions also surfaced about prices and ensuring affordability of the concerts.
“There’s a lot of excitement, undoubtedly,” Mr. Komives said. “ We understand that it’s important to have the concert series and we want to be able to maintain that, but we want to be able to do it in a way that is best for our city.”
Hunter Brucks, president and CEO of HBC Management, the developer behind a proposed amphitheater project in Toledo, told council this month that he would deliver at least 15 or more “top-tier entertainment events every season.”
Mr. Brucks presented to council on Aug. 8 a proposal to take over the ProMedica Summer Concert Series in 2024.
“I think we can take things to a new level over there at the park,” he said last week. “The whole idea for coming to Toledo and along the river is doing everything from hip hop to comedians to rock. Jerry Seinfeld has shown an interest in coming to Toledo.”
Mr. Brucks did not appear before the council Tuesday.
Councilman Theresa Morris. who leads the Regional Growth Development and Small Business Enterprise Committee, said after Tuesday’s meeting that a committee hearing would likely take place at the end of September, although no date has been set.
“We need to do a little more due diligence,” Ms. Morris said. “The problem is that there are so many different events. How do you compete with all of the different things going on? That’s the big issue.”
First Published August 15, 2023, 11:12 p.m.
