A portion of South Street in downtown Raleigh closed as the city starts to relocate the Red Hat Amphitheater.
Monday, the city permanently closed South Street from Dawson to McDowell streets. The closure comes as the city prepares to relocate the Red Hat Amphitheater to begin the Raleigh Convention Center (RCC) expansion project.
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City officials said once the street closed, staging would begin for the construction of the relocated amphitheater, which would move one block south of its current location at 500 South McDowell St. to a new location at 205 West Lenoir St.
According to city's assistant manager Evan Raleigh, the relocated Red Hat Amphitheater would have more pedestrian friendly features such as wider sidewalks.
The amphitheater's current capacity is about 5,990 people. The new venue is expected to have between 6,000 and 6,500 people.
Officials expect the relocation to be completed by the start of the 2026 concert season.
"We know the Red Hat generates tens of millions in economic activity every year," Raleigh said. "We have more and more people coming to visit every year. I think we were over 250,000 or 60,000 tickets sold last year. We had our best concert season ever with over 51 concerts. And so that's a lot of activity on the street. That's a lot of people coming downtown to spend dollars."
While the relocation project received mixed reactions, many are excited to see the progress and plan to work around the closure, including several local business owners.
"We see everything from hotel business to traffic coming in early before the show,” said Kevin Frazier, owner of Sir Walter Coffee. “If it’s on a weekend, we get a late-night crowd from that. Lots of times, people stay overnight, get breakfast, so we get business the next morning.”
Some Raleigh residents also look forward to the relocation of the popular venue.
"It's such a short stretch, but [it's] an easy way to back to this side of town," Ely Yarbrough, a Raleigh resident, said. "I'm hoping that hitting it from other sides will be effective. In the name of progress, I'm all for it."
The section of South Street will be closed to pedestrians and cars. Drivers can use Lenoir Street as an alternative to get downtown.
According to city officials, the amphitheater was built in 2010 on land intended for the RCC expansion. The expansion will include the new Omni Park Hotel, set to open in 2028.