Ponte Vedra Concert Hall closing until 2025 for renovations. Here's what's planned.

The iconic sign on the front of the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall will come down soon while a nearly year-long renovation project takes place.

No one is quite sure yet if the Art Deco sign will find a new home on the front of the renovated venue. It's not in renderings that show what the concert hall will look like when the work is done, but it's so closely associated with the place that it is likely to be preserved, said Gabe Pellicer, president of SJC Cultural Events, the public/private group that operates the St. Johns County-owned venue. The group also operates the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.

The hall closed Thursday night with a performance by the Dixie Dregs before a packed house of about 480 people. Following a "load out" ceremony Friday morning at which county officials and others associated with the venue ceremonially unloaded musical equipment from the stage, the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall will be closed until sometime early in 2025.

The hall is a former Baptist Church that opened in 1980. St. Johns County purchased it in 2006 for $5.2 million, announcing plans to convert it into a concert hall in 2009. Over the years, it has been the site for more than 1,000 shows and has seen more than 400,000 visitors. In 2022, the county approved $5.4 million for the renovation project.

When finished, the front of the building will be about 50 feet closer to the road and the stage will be deeper. The venue now holds about 480 for a seated show and about 900 when the seats are removed and patrons stand. The renovation project will add about 300 permanent seats in tiers at the rear of the hall and in one-row balconies that will run down each side. That will increase seating to about 600, said Jerry Wilson, president of Friends of the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, a 400-member private group that is spearheading the project. It also allows the venue to book shows where some patrons are seated and some are standing, fitting in around 1,100 fans.

The new seats will be wider and allow for larger aisles, Wilson said. That means there will be fewer seats on the floor, but more seats overall. "One of the rules was any seat is a great seat," Wilson said. "We actually sacrificed some seats to do that."

Upgrades will also be made to the sound system, restrooms, the bar and lobby, the exterior and the backstage "green room" used by performers. About the only thing that won't change, Wilson said, are the large wooden beams over the crowd and the quality of the programming.

The first official show at the venue was in 2011, but Pellicer said a "pilot test" concert, featuring Artie Shaw, was held in 2009. The results were so encouraging that plans went ahead to create the concert hall. Among the acts that have played there over the years are Wynonna Judd, Ann Wilson, the Allman Betts Band, Brandi Carlile, Aaron Neville, Art Garfunkle, Billy Bob Thornton, David Crosby, Elvin Bishop, Ricky Skaggs and Rupaul's Drag Race.

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The hall has been a gamble from the start, Pellicer said Friday. "This isn't supposed to work. This place has consistently risen above expectations."

Dylan Rumrell, chairman of SJC Cultural Events, was enthusiastic about the project. "This will be … the best indoor venue in North Florida," he said Friday. "The acts that will come here because of the enhancements that will take place will blow you away."

Wilson said no act has been booked for the reopening, but they're already thinking about it.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Ponte Vedra Concert Hall closes for $5.4 million renovation project