Sunday, February 14, 1999

Riverbend readies 'VIP' club with bars, restaurant

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BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The RSViP club will be located on the east side of the Riverbend complex. | ZOOM |

        When Riverbend Music Center opens its 16th season this spring, the star of the show will be a new, $1.2 million Riverbend Select VIP Club.

        The new structure, called the RSViP Club, will debut in time for Riverbend's soon-to-be announced opening night. The private club, which will have limited memberships, is part of $2 million in enhancements, including improved handicapped seating and up to 1,000 more lawn seats.

        It is the most substantial Riverbend improvement since the outdoor venue was built in 1984.

        “It's going to make a great entrance statement,” says architect Jim Guthrie of GBBN Architects Inc., overseeing the project with Frank Messer & Sons Construction. “It will be a secluded, intimate setting.”

TO JOIN RSViP CLUB

• Any CSO and Pops Riverbend subscriber may purchase the RSViP Club seat subscription. For the CSO, it is $15 more than the season subscription price. For the Pops, it's $25 more. Call 381-3300. • Riverbend's Gold Season subscribers (includes all CSO, Pops and contemporary concerts) automatically will become members of the RSViP Club. • 200 charter memberships, at $995 for this year, will be sold for use during Riverbend's contemporary shows. Call 232-6220. Single-ticket buyers will not have access to the inside of the RSViP Club. • Members will be able to bring a limited number of guests into the club.

        The 12,000-square-foot clubhouse is under construction on the east side of the Riverbend complex, near River Downs. The club will include two bars and a full-service restaurant with bistro foods (including Montgomery Inn ribs and chicken). Its capacity will be 600 in the patio area, plus 400 in the private garden and tent area.

        The open-air club wraps around a private patio and deck. Anyone at any concert may purchase RSViP Club bistro food and beverages at exterior concession windows.

        Riverbend, the summer home of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops orchestras, was designed by Michael Graves. The architects have tried to echo Mr. Graves' details, such as columns, trellis work and colors (red, blue and cream) in the clubhouse.

        Club members will have VIP parking adjacent to the club, a private box office and concierge service, private restrooms and their own Riverbend entrance. The club will be open two hours prior to and one hour after performances.

        The improvements will be partly funded by a $1 million gift from Harry, Scott and Wayne Nederlander of the Nederlander Organization, which had the management booking contract for the Riverbend contemporary series until this year.

        “To maintain a property, the owners must ... respond to what the public wants in a facility,” says Steven Monder, president of the CSO, which owns Riverbend. “Yes, the (club) costs $1.2 million, but we felt it would generate a fair return on that investment within a couple of years.”

        A new storage building and the club's kitchen equipment will be underwritten by Coney Island, which will run the kitchen. The balance of the $2 million project will come from CSO's unrestricted capital reserves, Mr. Monder says.

Cincinnati Pops Riverbend season
Cincinnati Symphony Riverbend season

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