Block 21: ACL Moves South

By Jackie Vega

It's taken Austin City Limits nearly 30 years to move south 20 blocks – and take its place right in the heart of Austin.

The proposed move has been in discussion for at least a couple years, said Terry Lickona, ACL producer. But it's only recently that the plans are taking shape: the new building will feature seating for up to seven times as many concert-goers (up to 2,200), a gift shop, a photographic exhibit of past performers, and perhaps artifacts and interactive displays and kiosks so that visitors will appreciate how far ACL has come over its 30-year history.

Not everything in the facility will be new.

The ACL staff is taking with them to the new venue something that has long been part of ACL almost since the very beginning—the stage.

The staff plans to build a bigger stage around the old one, but Lickona said the centerpiece of the stage at the new venue will be the heart and soul of what Austin City Limits is.

It's been Stratus Properties that has moved the plans forward more quickly. Lickona credited Stratus CEO Beau Armstrong with personally leading the initiative to build the ACL facility.

Earlier plans called for renovating the old Seaholm power plant further, a few blocks south. The old power plant needed a lot of work and would have cost ACL a lot of money to gut. But when Stratus stepped forward and offered to start from scratch, it was an opportunity too good to pass up, Lickona said.

"I don't know how we would've even raised the money to do it on our own without the generosity of the developer who was willing to pick up those costs," Lickona said.

Terry Lickona on ACL's move to Block 21

Today, Stratus and other investors have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this block-long project; two to three dozen people are working on the new ACL venue alone.

The first challenge is capturing the same intimate vibe they've had all these years on the UT campus. Lickona said losing that intimacy could easily happen in a building of that magnitude.

The new venue will have all new state-of-the art facilities: audio, control rooms, lighting formats. The stage will be designed to be acoustically perfect.

The new facility will also provide more seats, approximately 2,000-2,200, making it possible for more people to attend tapings. Current seating in the Communications Building is limited to 320 seats in Studio 6F – and it's almost impossible to get a ticket to ACL, Lickona said. Changes in seat configurations will be possible in the new venue – unlike the current studio.

At this stage, the ACL staff and architects are studying blueprints and plans: the ACL staff has gone through 20 different versions of those plans, Lickona said.

One of the trickier things about the design of the new studio is the fact that the physical space is exactly the same size as the current one: about 10,000 square feet. The main difference between the two is an added balcony section in the new facility that allows more room for seating, so that sometimes more viewers can be accommodated.

The new music venue will serve as a year-round music venue, but taping ACL will only take place two to three times a month while it serves as a music venue the remainder of the time.

"We see all kinds of ways that the show can continue to grow, including the core of Austin City Limits but also beyond," Lickona said.

ACL hopes to reach new heights as it continues its partnership with the ACL Festival and Stratus Properties, Lickona said. ACL hopes to be distributed internationally, though it currently is not.

The ACL staff would also love to be able to produce more programs, including a spin-off of ACL that will feature a Latin music show, Lickona said. They want to use the new studio for more types of television production other than just ACL, as it accommodates more than just music production. Nearby will be a W Hotel, with condominiums on the upper floors, restaurants and retail stores on the other side of the block, and an expanded Austin Children's Museum.

The new venue is expected to be complete in 2010, and Lickona said it's still surreal.

"We sometimes have to pinch ourselves to make sure this is really happening and it's not just a dream," Lickona said. "But it is amazing that something that's been around as long as Austin City Limits has isn't running out of steam, or becoming faded, or that people are losing interest in it, or that it's becoming irrelevant. It's the exact opposite."