[Maybe it's just me, but I have no idea where this is. I was thinking one of those old lumber warehouses off Main Street near Shoppers Drug Mart, but haven't they all been converted into retail?]
[Never mind...looked it up...it's off Cityview Avenue...]
Northside business owner turns warehouse into music venue
By JACQUELINE LEBLANC
leblanc.jacqueline@dailygleaner.com
Published Tuesday July 17th, 2007
Appeared on page A6
A local company is giving northsiders a reason to rock out.
Lloyd Merriam, owner of Musiplex, is renovating a large warehouse near his business and converting it into a state-of-the-art performing arts centre.
"It's going to give (Frederictonians) the best stage in the city, bar none, designed for live music," Merriam said.
"I think it will give the north side a facility that they currently don't have. A lot of our patrons are northsiders. And in general, it'll give the music community and the arts community a resource."
Merriam said the facility will be used for more than music.
It can also be used for comedy shows, hypnotists, dance companies or theatre companies.
He said the project has been in the works for four years.
"It has always been our intention to open an event centre," he said.
"We wanted a facility that is complementary to the rest of our activities at Musiplex.
"We have an active school. One of the uses of the event centre will be to showcase our students with recitals and various things related to school functions. It was a natural next step from that."
The venue will open in two phases.
Merriam said the first phase should be ready to open by August once it has received proper permits from the city. The second phase should be ready by October or November.
When renovations are complete, the venue will hold approximately 700 people.
Merriam said he hopes his venue will be a part of the 2008 East Coast Music Awards that will be held in Fredericton.
"We will have probably one of the premiere venues in the province of New Brunswick," he said.
"It's a performance arts venue, and it was designed and equipped specifically for live performances. Certainly, it would be logical to be a major player in the ECMAs in 2008."
Tim Yerxa, chairman of the local organizing committee for the ECMA, said it's not too late for venues to get involved in the event.
"For the ECMA, venues are great," he said.
"The more venues that we have, and the better venues that we have in the city, then it's going to make for a better event all around."
James Boyle of Forward Music Group, a booking and management agency for local talent, said new venues could translate into more live shows for Fredericton.
"We're excited that there's more opening up, and it's definitely opening up a lot of doors," Boyle said.
"It's definitely an improvement. It's going to improve the music scene in some way. It's going to have a positive impact."
He said the venue will be great for the north side.