The Future of the Soundside Event Site

By Jes Gray / Image courtesy of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau

Many legendary entertainment venues have graced the Outer Banks: The Casino in Nags Head of the ’40s-’60s, Kelly’s & Port o’ Call of the’80s-’00s and The Pit in Kill Devil Hills of the ’90s-’00s, just to name a few. These spots are gone but not forgotten, and in their absence a need for a larger venue has arisen. Kelly’s and Port o’ Call still exist, though in structure only, and though attempts to revive them have been made, they remain closed. While venues like Outer Banks Brewing Station in KDH and Roadside in Duck offer music, a few hotels host events and Jolly Roger’s preparing to open their 4800 sq foot nightclub, in recent years nothing in the area has been able to replace the capacity and flexibility of these shuttered venues.

The demand is clearly there, though. In Manteo, for example, the waterfront VusicOBX Summer Concert Series at Roanoke Island Festival Park has been hugely successful, selling thousands of tickets for each show. Meanwhile on the Currituck Mainland, Morris Farm Market is opening a large outdoor concert venue which can also accommodate thousands of fans. Even in Avon, Koru Village’s concert series hosts groups and events for hundreds of Hatteras locals and visitors alike, yet nothing has materialized between Nags Head and Duck. With no private entity taking the leap, the Tourism Board has plans to fulfill this need with a multi-use venue at the Soundside Event Site on the Roanoke sound in Nags Head.

Like most public projects, this plan has been a long time in the making. The Tourism Board started acquiring the land years ago, and the concepts of what the project would look like have changed dramatically over that time. With the recent razing of the purchased Pamlico Jack’s Restaurant property for fire department training, the site was made more ready for the transition. Driving by the now empty lot, it looks ready for building, but I, like many folks, wondered what? I contacted Lee Nettles, Tourism Board President, and asked him a bit about the project and how folks like me could check for updates.

One of the most popular events at the site, the annual Outer Banks Seafood Festival honors and celebrates the area’s coastal seafood heritage and community, featuring live music and entertainment. Images courtesy of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.

I first asked Mr. Nettles where one could find the latest information about plans for an Event Center, so I could see what was available to the public before asking about details of the project. He directed me towards the OuterBanks.org/FAQ site where the Tourism Board has a plethora of information. On the site are links to all kinds of charts and graphs explaining how the decisions have been made thus far, including some designs they’ve had drawn up for proposals, even a video of last June’s presentation.
The description of the project per the site is as follows, “The Dare County Tourism Board is in the early stages of developing a multi-use Event Center at The Soundside Event Site in Nags Head. This project is intended to serve the community with recreational, entertainment and economic opportunities.”

The topic of a convention center, as was talked about in the beginning was touched on. They explain, “Convention centers are significantly larger than what is planned for the Outer Banks. For instance, the Virginia Beach Convention Center has a gross square footage of 516,000 as compared to the Event Center’s 48,275…that’s more than 10x the size! For perspective, the Event Center’s square footage is less than half the size of our new Target (formerly Kmart).”

They describe the types of events the center will accommodate as, “concerts of up to 2,500 people, which is sufficient for attracting national touring acts. The design of the building includes a back wall that can open on to the event lawn for even larger concerts.” This would be similar to the venue at Festival Park, possibly allowing artists to perform at both locations if there is demand.

Photo & Explanation found on OuterBanks.org/FAQ: The Event Center will give our community something it doesn’t have – a flexible indoor space capable of hosting groups of up to 2,500 people. The economic impacts are strong on their own, but it strives to be a part of the local community providing a venue for local youth and adult sports, concerts, banquets, galas, weather-protected events, and culinary training.

What about demand? With our smaller local population, and the concert/performance venue at Festival Park, is there a need for another similar project? The Board explains, “Right now, area events are limited by the size of available indoor facilities and/or by their use restrictions. County school and rec buildings, for instance, offer large spaces, but have limitations in terms of alcohol on site and shorter windows for setup, take-down and outside public use.” They go on to tout the economic benefits as the venue, “is projected to generate approximately $25 million in new spending annually, bringing new dollars into the county and supporting 191 new jobs throughout the community.”

They emphasize that the financial benefits speak for themselves but that, “the Event Center strives to be a part of the local community, providing a venue for local youth and adult sports, concerts, banquets, galas, weather-protected events, and culinary training.”

After reading the Frequently asked Questions answers and looking over the graphs, charts, and designs I still had a few more questions. In digging deeper online for more details, a planning group called VHB (Vanasse Hangren Brustlin, Inc.) popped up, mentioning developing the concepts for the current Soundside Event Site. Per their website, “VHB provided master planning, design, and public involvement services to help the Dare County Tourism Board improve the site. Project goals included enhancing existing site uses, creating opportunities for year-round usage, and allowing flexible implementation over time.” I asked Mr. Nettles if they would be the ones employed for the next phase of development. He replied, “VHB isn’t under contract. They finished previous agreements.” A new contract with them or another company has not been negotiated.

The zoning restrictions applied to Areas of Environmental Concern or AECs are potentially being removed or changed, so I asked Mr. Nettles whether he thought the legislation change would affect the design.

He responded, “We haven’t really considered whether or not the AEC relaxation would aid the Event Center development. The potential negative consequences for Jockey’s Ridge are the Tourism Board’s more immediate concern with the AEC. Anything that would jeopardize that State treasure is a bad idea.” I think most would agree with his sentiments about protecting Jockeys Ridge, but we’ll have to wait and see how the potential AEC changes are implemented.

I finished our conversation by saying after reading available info on the website I didn’t get a good picture of comparable venues from the FAQ page. There is a chart which lists the sites they compared the Outer Banks to for design purposes, but it doesn’t have links or photos.

He said, “The Vicksburg MS and South Padre Island TX sites are comparable in terms of size. We looked for similar sized centers in tourism-heavy, small population areas for reference, but even then, the Outer Banks has some differences. Like the fact that we aren’t pursuing an adjoining hotel, and that our planned use types were intended for local benefit as much as visitors…for example, the culinary training facility, the hall for sports and concerts, and simply an indoor space that can accommodate some of our larger existing events. This facility is not a convention center (which are often 10x the size of what’s proposed here) and was never intended to be, if anything, it’s more like a civic center. The Board made a conscious decision to forego maximized financial return in favor of a center that will be of more use to the local community.”

At first the comparison to Vicksburg and South Padre caught me off guard, but looking at their websites you can see that they are examples of more community centered sites than the classic convention centers.

You can see all of this for yourself at OuterBanks.org/FAQ and by checking out the event centers in Vicksburg and South Padre online. The Tourism Board meets the third Thursday of each month and has select committee meetings for this topic and other public input sessions periodically. Check out the Tourism Board’s website for their next meeting time and location and to see any new information about the Soundside Event Site.

Author: Jes Gray