Symphony: New music venue at Coney Island will keep some historic park features

Some of Coney Island’s features will remain in the new music venue being built by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, symphony officials told The Enquirer on Friday.

Symphony leadership sat down with The Enquirer to talk about their plans for a music campus on the old amusement park property, how the deal came together and the backlash they received since buying the former iconic theme park.

The iconic front gates and Lake Como by the entrance will stay, said symphony President Jonathan Martin and Mike Smith, president of symphony subsidiary Music and Event Management Inc., known as MEMI. So will the grove along the river where Summerfair and other events have been held.

The symphony will consider saving the dance hall Moonlite Gardens, though the price tag of $5.7 million to rehabilitate it after years of sitting vacant would make preserving it difficult, they said.

The massive Sunlite Pool, however, cannot be saved.

Martin said the symphony has heard the outcry from the public about the historic amusement park on Cincinnati's eastern border.

"We absolutely understand the history of Coney Island," Martin said. "We absolutely understand and acknowledge that it is a place where a lot of memories have been made in this community. And we are looking at trying to preserve aspects of Coney Island if they help support our mission to serve the community through music."

What is planned?

The symphony and MEMI in December bought the 100 acres of Coney Island for $8 million and announced plans to construct a $118 million music campus. MEMI, which operates the adjacent Riverbend and PNC Pavilion, will construct a 21,000-seat stage to replace the 40-year-old Riverbend stage.

The old Riverbend stage and the 4,100-seat PNC Pavilion will remain. MEMI will continue to book the smaller acts as usual at PNC Pavilion. The old Riverbend stage will be used for festival-type events when multiple stages are needed.

Why is the new venue needed?

The new venue will be able to host larger music festivals as well as the current-sized acts that play Riverbend and PNC Pavilion. With three stages and improved technology, concessions, seating and traffic flow, this will be "the best brand new amphitheater experience in the country," Smith said.

"There's no reason Cincinnati shouldn't have the best venue in the country," Smith said.

The project will bring in an additional 30% in shows compared to what is now booked at Riverbend as well as larger music festivals, according to MEMI estimates. This will draw more than 250,000 people each year, MEMI projects.

What is the controversy?

The symphony's plans were condemned by historic preservationists and people who remembered the theme park that had once sat on the banks of the Ohio River for more than a century.

Coney Island, along with one of its last remnants, Sunlite Pool, closed Dec. 31, 2023.

Protesters – including nearly 25,000 through one online petition – demanded the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra keep Sunlite Pool open or save the pool structure itself. The Cincinnati Preservation Society urged the orchestra to develop the property in a way that keeps the century-old landmarks intact.

How the deal came together

Cincinnati Symphony leadership told The Enquirer they are not to blame for Coney Island's closure.

"I think it's important to also understand that we didn't buy Coney Island, the business," Martin said. "Coney Island closed the business, closed the pool, and they sold us the land. We are not going to reopen the pool."

The last rides at Coney Island were sold off by the previous owner in 2019. Moonlite Gardens closed around that time, they said.

The symphony and Coney Island management had talked off and on for the past decade about possible plans for the future, Smith said. The idea for expanding Riverbend didn't come until much later, he said. The aging of Riverbend and the increased competition from larger music festivals created the need for an expanded music center, Smith said.

Smith said he couldn't go into details on the negotiations with Coney Island other than the plan to sell the property was mutual.

So why not save the pool?

The loss of the pool has sparked a barrage of messages to the symphony. Martin wouldn't go into specifics on what they've received other than "the tenor and tone" of some of the communications was "borderline."

"It's harder to engage with people who are, who were, maybe less interested in a dialogue," Martin said.

Despite the strong sentiments, Martin and Smith were clear: The pool can't stay. They don't know how to operate a pool. Nor does the symphony know anyone to ask who could operate the pool, Smith and Martin said. Also, the land is needed for the music venue, they said.

"We bought this property as an asset to fulfill the mission of MEMI and the CSO," Martin said. "We're not in the pool business."

The symphony doesn't know whether the Sunlite Pool location will be a parking lot or part of the venue. The layout and design for the new venue have yet to be finalized, Smith said.

What about Moonlite Gardens?

Moonlite Gardens, a dance hall built in the 1920s at Coney Island, played host to generations of school dances, receptions and concerts. It closed in 2018, according to the symphony. Since then, it's deteriorated, Smith said. The symphony hired an architect who estimated it would cost $5.7 million to fix it back up to code.

The symphony hasn't decided Moonlite Gardens' fate.

"I'd love to incorporate it into the entire music campus and host events in that facility," Smith said. "This is a challenge; $5.7 million is a substantial challenge to get that back open."

When will work start?

The symphony hasn't set a date for the groundbreaking. Initial work on the site will begin this spring, Smith said. He said he doesn't know when the pool and water slides will be dismantled. The new venue will open sometime in the spring of 2026. Riverbend and PNC Pavilion will remain open throughout construction.

"We want to turn this into a music and entertainment campus," Smith said, "which is what Coney Island has always been."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on Coney Island and the future