Red Hat Amphitheater relocation set to begin in fall, Raleigh Convention Center to expand

The Raleigh Convention Center and nearby Red Hat Amphitheater are growing, evolving and shifting.

The convention center plans to add 300,000 square feet of space to bring the total to about 800,000 square feet. It is set to take over the space where the current amphitheater sits now.

The amphitheater will relocate to 205 W. Lenoir St., which is one block south of its current location. Red Hat will add 500 to 1,000 seats with its relocation.

“We get to keep all that feel and love of it being a downtown boutique amphitheater, but it gets to be a little more permanent,” said Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex executive director Kerry Painter.

More than $387 million will help pay to expand the Raleigh Convention Center and relocate Red Hat Amphitheater.

Construction is set to start on the new amphitheater once the concert season ends. As of Friday, Red Hat’s last concert of the year is scheduled for Oct. 20.

Concerts will be held in the current location for one more season – through 2025. The opening of the new amphitheater is set for 2026. It will mark the end of an era for the old site, which opened in 2009.

Another $75 million will go toward building a new 550-room Omni Hotel set to open in 2027 across from the Raleigh Convention Center and Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts at the end of Fayetteville Street.

The hotel will have 55,000 square feet of meeting space, several food and beverage outlets, a rooftop pool, a spa and a fitness center.

Then, crews will get to work expanding the convention center, which opened in 2008. The expansion is set to finish in 2028.

“It’s amazing to be in a city that has demand for this entire package to grow,” Painter said. “It really tells you that Raleigh is on the move.”

Animazement, a Japanese animation and culture convention, runs from Thursday through Sunday at the convention center. What started as a student club at North Carolina State University now fills the convention center.

“At about 15,000 [people], you’re really starting to push the limits of the RCC’s capacity,” said Matthew Holmes, the Animazement outreach coordinator.

Holmes said Animazement organizers are expecting between 13,000 and 15,000 people this weekend. Animazement used to be held in Durham, but the convention outgrew the space there.

“We’re always looking for the opportunity to fill in more space,” Holmes said. “Occasionally, we move over to some of the hotels that surround us.

“If the RCC were to get bigger, we’d love that because then we could fill more of that.”

Holmes mentioned the challenge of limited space for celebrity guests.

“We only have so many panel rooms to put them in, so we have to be very on the dot with our hourly schedule to make sure we can fit everything,” Holmes said.

What happens next before construction starts on the new Red Hat Amphitheater

A team of architects is working on the final design of the expansion, relocation and redesign of the Raleigh Convention Center and Red Hat Amphitheater.

In January, the city hired Atlanta-based TVS and Ratio Design for the project.

The company has worked on more than 80 convention centers and performance arts spaces. It includes the Las Vegas Convention Center, Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City and Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.