RALEIGH, N.C. — The outdoor stage that has hosted summer concerts in downtown Raleigh for years is done on Cabarrus Street. Red Hat Amphitheater has closed for good, and the city says contractors will start moving in for demolition in about two weeks to clear the way for a bigger Raleigh Convention Center.
The venue is not going away for long. A replacement amphitheater is going up one block to the south, with a June opening targeted so the city’s summer concert season can carry on.
The old site becomes part of a convention center expansion that city and tourism leaders are counting on to pull more meetings and visitors downtown. Construction is already underway on an Omni hotel to serve the larger hall and is expected to open in late 2028. The bigger convention center should be ready in early 2030, and a groundbreaking is planned for next month on the former amphitheater grounds.
Sales have already started. Loren Gold, an executive at the Greater Raleigh visitors bureau, said the bureau began marketing the expanded building earlier this month, and tourism officials say inquiries are already coming in for events as far out as 2031. Lodging, food and beverage tax collections this fiscal year are running 4% ahead of Wake County’s projections.
Gold also credited the Carolina Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup run with putting Raleigh in front of an international audience.
The project sits at the south end of Fayetteville Street, the main downtown spine that runs from the State Capitol to the convention center and reopened to cars in 2006 after years as a pedestrian mall. Bars and restaurants along the corridor are betting the added foot traffic will reach them.
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