Major renovations are being considered for Les Schwab Amphitheater, including making the entire concert venue accessible to people with disabilities, adding box suites and replacing the stage roof in the hope of attracting more acts.

Amphitheater representatives are scheduled to meet Thursday with city of Bend planners to get feedback about what type of permitting the project would require.

Venue General Manager Marney Smith hopes work can start in fall 2020 and be complete in time for the May start of the 2021 season.

“There’s a whole bunch of little things that have added up to ‘Hey, we need to rethink how we’re doing things,’” Smith said.

A major component of the upgrade will be the stage, which lacks the overhead clearance and structural capacity for many touring acts, Smith said.

“If we had greater capacity to hang more weight, if there was a larger structural component to that stage, the tours would use it,” Smith said. “It would open the doors to bands we haven’t been able to get here.”

Acts that skipped Bend because the venue didn’t meet their production requirements include David Byrne, Bryan Adams and several country artists, Smith said.

Country is the most-requested category of music, but the artists usually have light shows and other visual components that don’t fit the stage, Smith said. Ideally, the stage upgrade would include a video screen, she said.

Les Schwab has capacity for 8,000 people and sells an average 3,950 tickets per show, according to music industry website Pollstar.

The venue targets artists selling 3,000 to 12,000 tickets per show who are routing their tours through the Northwest, Smith said. The upgrades to the amphitheater aren’t going to increase seating capacity or include stage rigging for arena-style shows, she said.

With a new stage, a new fence and improved security, Les Schwab could go after acts like Zac Brown Band, which is playing the Watershed Festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, this weekend, Smith said.

Plans for the grounds include regrading and landscaping the lawn and adding additional paved areas for food and beer vendors, Smith said.

The venue is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but there is room for improvement, Smith said.

In 2014, Anastasia Perone filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice after she was required to park her wheelchair in a grassy area that she couldn’t navigate on her own. Les Schwab has a paved area directly in front of the stage, but it’s for reserved seating.

As result of Perone’s complaint and subsequent meetings with disability-rights advocates, the amphitheater added signs on Shevlin-Hixon Drive about accessible parking near the venue gate, began advertising on its website concierge services for people who can’t reach the vendors’ area and hired concert hosts to provide services for all guests, she said.

“That’s a good interim fix, but again, the ADA’s all about being able to do things independently,” said Karin Morris, accessibility manager for the city of Bend. “You want to eventually get it so people can enjoy all the amenities of the facility.”

The remodel is being planned as Les Schwab Amphitheater nears the end of its contract with Portland-based promoter Monqui Presents. Smith said she has solicited proposals from several promoters, and Monqui, whose contract is up after the 2020 season, is among them.

Monqui representatives declined to comment.

The amphitheater, which is part of the Old Mill District, wants its promoter to help pay for upgrades to the venue, Smith said.

The amphitheater doesn’t make money from concerts and serves to generate traffic for the shopping area, she said.

Another possibility is to sell naming rights, Smith said. The amphitheater is named for Leslie “Les” Schwab, the late founder of Les Schwab Tire Centers, who was a friend of Old Mill District developer Bill Smith. (Bill Smith is a shareholder in Central Oregon Media Group, an entity formed by Salem-based EO Media Group, which has agreed to buy The Bulletin out of bankruptcy.)

Bill Smith said he named the venue to honor Schwab, but there’s no guarantee that the moniker will continue in perpetuity. Schwab’s heirs are shareholders in the Old Mill District, he said.

Les Schwab’s first concert season was in 2002, but many booking agents didn’t pay attention to the venue until Dave Matthews Band played there in 2014, Marney Smith said.

She doesn’t want the remodel to slow that momentum, but she said the Old Mill District will shut the amphitheater down for a season if that’s required.

“It’s a very slow rolling snowball that we’re hoping not to have to stop.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com