Up for sale: Verizon Wireless Music Center

When rumors surfaced that Verizon Wireless Music Center in Noblesville, Ind., might be sold, patrons soon worried the music venue and its 203 acres would become a housing development, shopping center or industrial area.\nFormerly known as Deer Creek, the music center has been host to a large number of big names in the past, including Phish, Jimmy Buffett, Dave Matthews, Kenny Chesney and Tom Petty. Each summer season the 24,000-seat amphitheater, located about 25 miles north of downtown Indianapolis, welcomes a crowd of concert goers, selling out local hotels and filling \nnearby campgrounds.\nJulie Mitcheltree, a Noblesville resident and IU-Northwest aluma worries that losing the venue will have a domino effect of bad results. She began a Facebook event "Keep the Music Alive," to protest.\nShe hopes that by community members bringing guitars and drum sets to the venue, it will demonstrate their support for a quality music center.\n"We're not trying to stop the sale. What we need to do is open the eyes of others that may be considering the purchase, " Mitcheltree said.\nMitcheltree stresses the importance of a quality music venue in Indiana.\n"If they see just how much this place means to people, and that it is a core music venue, they'll see more value in it and strive to outbid the land \ndevelopers they're up against," she said. "There is nothing else around that compares in quality (to Verizon Wireless Music Center)."\nBeyond losing major musicians, Mitcheltree worries about the potential negative economic impact on the area.\n"Verizon Wireless Music Center is better for Hamilton County anyway," she said. "Shopping centers are going to make revenue from the local residents only. A music venue brings in revenue from other parts of the state and even across the Midwest. People that come here to see the shows spend their money on our gas, hotels, food, et cetera." Mitcheltree said.\nThe "Keep the Music Alive" Facebook-created event is expected to take place after the first bid to buy the venue arrives.\nSteve Such, a sophomore majoring in music education, said he believes it's important the venue remains an amphitheater.\n"I'd be really upset about it because I think it's a great place for live music in Indiana," Such said. "It affects me because the first live concert I went to was at Verizon. It was Pearl Jam. It was meaningful to me and to see it go would be a shame."\nSteve Finkel, general manager at Verizon Wireless, doesn't see any reason for music lovers to worry.\n"The venue is not up for sale to the highest bidder, it's not an auction," Finkel said. "If an offer comes in that is substantial, it will be considered, but it's not an auction."\nThe possibility for a sale in the future still exists, and with it the possibility for a change in landscape. Petitioners and others concerned about the venue's future should sit tight, Finkel said, who added that patrons' concerns are "certainly passed up the ladder."\nLiveNation, a spin off of Clear Channel communications that owns the venue, released a statement about the venue saying, "We can confirm that (real estate firm) CB Richard Ellis is exploring a sale of the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Noblesville. We are continually evaluating our real estate holdings on a national basis and our decision to look into a sale at this time is based on a number of factors. This certainly does not mean that a sale is imminent or necessarily guaranteed."\nBut LiveNation is reassuring customers that the music venue will still operate throughout the 2007 season.\n"Regardless of whether a sale is completed or not, we are committed to the 2007 concert season and will continue bringing fans the same great music and customer service they have come to expect from LiveNation at the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Noblesville, IN," according to the statement.