‘Most over the top venue on Earth’: $220 million theater planned for this North Texas city
A $220 million open-air 20,000 capacity amphitheater is coming soon to North Texas.
Hospitality company Notes Live is building the new venue, called the Sunset Amphitheater, in northeast McKinney off U.S. Highway 75 and State Highway 121.
Construction on the project will begin later this year and is expected to finish by 2026. The concert and entertainment venue will be the largest of its kind in McKinney, which is around 55 miles northeast of Fort Worth.
“They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and for the Sunset Amphitheater in McKinney, that was our guiding principle — bigger, and better,” Notes Live CEO JW Roth said. “McKinney is an incredible community, and we can’t wait to build the most over the top venue on Earth.”
Notes Live expects the development to create over 1,300 jobs for the area, along with over $3 billion in regional and local economic activity in the venue’s first decade of operation.
The venue will be built over 46 acres in McKinney and feature over 250 luxury fire pit suites, along with reserved seating. Food and drink service at the venue is said to be gourmet and “not your typical concert fare”.
McKinney is the latest city to land a concert venue from Notes Live, who has other projects going in Oklahoma and and Tennessee.
“This world-class music venue is a game-changer for our entertainment offerings in McKinney and will be a boon for our economic growth and tourism sector,” McKinney Mayor George Fuller said. “This new addition to our community will bring even more life and energy to our already thriving arts scene and undoubtedly continue to set McKinney apart as an entertainment and cultural hub in the region.”
Is the McKinney music venue the biggest in North Texas?
The proposed Sunset Amphitheater in McKinney will have a large capacity, but it won’t be the biggest concert venue in the Metroplex.
Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas holds the largest capacity for a concert venue in North Texas at over 91,000. Followed quickly by Arlington’s AT&T Stadium (80,000 capacity) and Choctaw Stadium (48,000 capacity).
At 20,000 capacity, Sunset Amphitheater will join other mid-size concert venues in the Metroplex such as:
- American Airlines Center (Dallas)- 20,000 capacity
- Dos Equis Pavilion (Dallas)- 20,000 capacity
- Dickies Arena (Fort Worth)- 14,000 capacity
- The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory (Irving)- 8,000 capacity
- Texas Trust CU Theatre at Grand Prairie (Grand Prairie)- 6,300 capacity
- Billy Bob’s Texas (Fort Worth)- 6,000 capacity
This story was originally published March 12, 2024 at 10:07 AM.
