It’s “scary to think” Smart Financial Centre of Sugar Land (Texas) might host 150 concerts and events in 2018. But having blown through all its projections for year one, including doing 130 events, after opening Jan. 14, 2017, it’s very likely, said Gary Becker, general manager there as a partner in Ace SL LLC, which helped fund and operates the venue.
“We had a great year,” Becker said. “And we have 78 shows already booked for this year. Of those 78, all but six are before Aug. 1. It’s just crazy.”
The secret sauce is flexibility. Smart Financial Centre has numerous seating configurations, all of which include moving walls as well as dropping curtains for an intimate, intentional feel.
“We offer up a venue that accommodates a variety of events, and not in a cutdown or curtain version,” said Mike McGee, Barmac Consulting and consultant to the project. “If you saw this building set up for 2,200 seats, and stood on the stage and looked into the audience chamber, you’d think it was a 2,200-seat theater. Nothing identifies it’s bigger than that.”
It defies McGee’s theory that every building is a Size 2 (too big or too small). “This building, with its seating capabilities in flexible mode, has a multitude of opportunities for everything out there,” McGee said, noting that point is proved with its diverse event mix to date: 26 percent theatrical, 12 percent comedy, 34 percent concerts, 13 percent community and 15 percent cultural.
Jason Rio, president of Live Nation’s Houston office, notes, “Smart Financial has the appropriate concert feel. It’s a different vibe. You’re not trying to re-create the tone of the room as you’d have to do with Jones or Hobby [performing arts centers in Houston]. It’s built into the room.”
A rock band like The Killers feels connected, Rio added. “It’s electric because they built the venue factoring in the fan experience, but also the back of house experience. The Killers were out with 15 trucks and we fit 14 of the 15 in there. It had the scale of United Center in Chicago. Because of the layout of Smart, the fans could get that whole Killers spectacle. They didn’t have to sacrifice anything.”
Comedy has also been a strong niche for Smart Financial Centre. The venue did 10 comedy shows in 2017, including opening Jan. 14, 2017, with two Jerry Seinfeld performances, and continuing with two Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, Adam Sandler, Billy Crystal, Jay Leno and, coming up, Ron White and Jim Gaffigan, both of whom will sell out. “We’ll possibly add a second date for Jim,” Becker said of the roll they’re on.
Increasing the size of the room is something the theater can do with ease. If they’re already at capacity, they add a second show. They set up for 3,000 tickets for Earth, Wind & Fire, “but we’ll sell 4,000,” Becker said. “Everything we’ve done has been successful.”
From experience, they have learned how to grow the house. Configurations include the three center sections, called the small house set-up, with 3,210 manifested seats; medium wide, which means opening the walls on the sides, 4,334 manifested seats; medium narrow, which means opening the “balcony,” though it’s on the same level, just 10 rows back, 4,544; or full house, 6,240. Those numbers do not include suites. In all cases, the seating manifest is set up for a Gold Circle of 399 seats, which is reduced to 284 if the performer requests a pit.
“For a comedian, we’re more prone to open the walls because the sightlines are easy since they’re playing downstage center,” Becker said. “But for Chicago at the end of the month, the walls are closed but the balcony is open because they play so many members upstage and we want the audience to see all of the band.”
There are actually six or seven configurations possible, he added, but he’s now looking to add one more. Listening to performers and patrons is a religion at Smart Financial Centre.
“We’re getting ready to buy some drapes to cover some seats so we can offer more versatility to an artist,” Becker said. That $2,000 purchase from Sew What is in response to G-Easy, who rehearsed and opened his tour at Smart Financial Centre in February. “He was concerned about empty seats. He was selling more than he thought so we were opening up sections, and we had a couple of sections in the balcony in the corners that would be empty. He didn’t want to see those,” Becker said.
The new black drape will solve that issue. It will be cut to the dimensions of two 240-seat sections and will look like it’s supposed to be there, Becker said. “I can open the center three and the balcony and, two days before the show, I can open another 400 seats instead of 800. It’s being as versatile as we can be and making it work for the artist. We want to be the coolest kid on the block.”
To that end, Becker, who worked shows for his family’s Pace Sports & Entertainment for decades, made sure the theater had tons of power and can hang anything (300,000 pounds).
“Backstage couldn’t be better. We can load in four at a time and we can park 14 vehicles,” Becker said.
Even more telling of his history is the set-up of the rooms backstage. Production is upstage right and the artist is in a controlled environment stage left. The dressing rooms stage left have a private entrance for the artist and “can be totally isolated from everywhere and everybody – the dock, production offices, in-house production, the dining room. The artists can totally secure themselves from everybody and a lot of artists want that. It’s unusual to think of that when you go to construction. I did, because I was a production guy for 25 years.”
In 2017, Smart Financial Centre sold 352,000 tickets, compared with a goal of 250,000, Becker said.
The theater has a full-time staff of 20 and not one has quit, Becker said, a fact he’s proud of given the hard work and long hours. They will host 14 shows this month. “They want to be here. We had that conversation two days ago in a staff meeting. I asked the department heads to tell me if we can do this amount of business with what we have. No one contemplated it would be like this. They said thank you for asking; it’s something we have to address.”
Location has been a huge boost to Smart Financial Centre. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country, with a good economy, and the building has a niche Houston doesn’t have covered, Becker said. “Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is a drop-dead great amphitheater, but to see a show with 4,000-5,000 people under the roof is not the best for the patrons or artists, nor is a basketball arena proper for intimate theatrical shows. We’ve filled that void.”
McGee believes “the energy this building has is unbelievable. You conceptualize how it will work, put it together and apply it, and son of a gun, it worked.”
Economically, it pencils out because the theater does not require an arena-size staff. The audience experience is superb given their proximity to the stage. And ticket prices can be somewhat higher for such an intimate experience. “That allows us to create a dynamic where we can offer comparable economics [to arenas] for some of these higher-profile acts,” McGee said. Typically, shows go on sale through Ticketmaster with 3-5 tiered pricing, like an arena.
“It’s a great feeling to know you’ve created something that everybody likes and appreciates,” Becker declared. “I sit at the back of the house on the ADA platform behind the mixer and see the patrons enjoy coming here. One guy told me backstage it was great going into a production office and seeing a plug where the plug’s supposed to be. I thought that was pretty cool.”
VERSATILE TASTE BUDS
The all-time high per cap for Spectrum Food at Smart Financial Centre of Sugar Land was $27. It occurred during a daylong Westfest, featuring Ice Cube and local talent, running for seven hours.
Throughout the day there were fresh faces and people and Ronny Smeink of Spectrum Catering & Concessions was ready for them. “It was the perfect storm of celebrities and local artists,” he recalled.
In the first year of operating the multifaceted theater, he has sated the appetites of a variety of patrons, most new to the building and there to see all genres of music and arts.
When the venue opened, he predicted the ratio of drink to food would be 85-to-15. He was right. Going forward, he’s hoping to increase the food portion to 20 percent and, with the 60-by-53-foot kitchen completed last March, two months after opening, and a year of experience behind him, he’s prepared to make that happen.
“The kitchen made a world of difference,” Smeink said. “We’re able to bring more products in and test the waters because we have more refrigeration and freezer space.”
“We did Mercy Me and sold out, but the per cap was $3.50,” said Gary Becker, chairman of Ace SL LLC and general manager of the venue. “Whereas tonight we’re doing Patti LaBelle and the per caps will probably be $18. Dave Matthews was $20-something.
The menu is modified based on the demographic expected. Chef Greg King is really busy, Smeink said, as are the 60-100 on staff. “We are smoking and curing our own meats in-house. And we do our own suite catering.”
The biggest revelation during a year of operating is the versatility of the building, with everything from Broadway and ballet to metal and rock, he said.
Post-Hurricane Harvey, which flooded the Wortham in downtown Houston, the Houston Ballet moved its 14-show Nutcracker run to Smart Financial Centre. Smeink had never served that crowd before, but knew it would be family friendly, with lots of kids, so he added a popcorn station with hot chocolate and cotton candy and freshly baked cookies and commemorative cups. Patrons were able to take food into the theater, which helped increase per caps.
With an average of 3,000 per performance, Spectrum did a healthy $9 per cap for Nutcracker.
“I was very pleasantly surprised with what we did with Nutcracker at last-minute notice,” Smeink said. “It took a team effort.”
PARTNERS ON THE SAME PAGE
Live Nation’s Jason Rio considers himself lucky he arrived in Houston just at Smart Financial Centre was opening next door in Sugar Land.
The theater has an intimacy with an in-your-face rock show that’s “this immediate thing. It lives in a unique space,” Rio said, noting he has booked probably 35 shows in the year-old, 6,400-seat venue. “Hopefully more will be built because, across the board, it’s a win-win-win. Before, in Houston, you had to underplay or overplay. You couldn’t get in that middle. Now you can.”
It’s a win for the mayor and assistant city manager of Sugar Land and the CEO of Smart Financial Credit Union as well.
Mayor Joe Zimmerman’s best advice to any other city council considering such a project is to “make sure you have a great partner. Spend your time researching, qualifying — it’s like getting married. You only want to do it one time. Identify that great partner and go all in. The goals and values of our city, we share with our partners.”
Referring to Gary Becker, Ace SL LLC, and the Becker family, Rio agreed. “Clearly Gary saw an opportunity through the history he has with his family in the market … say that last name and a lot of clout comes with that. It’s been incredible to see how you can take anything from a show like Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds or Sting and see the intimacy at Smart.”
Smart Financial Centre has been a 10-year journey and started because the city of Sugar Land solicits the opinion of its citizens, Zimmerman said. “In 2007, our citizens said they wanted five venues – a ballpark, a performing arts facility, a festival site, a cultural arts center and a second hotel conference center. We’ve now delivered three of five.” Smart Financial Centre, with its outside plaza, is the performing arts and festival piece of the puzzle.
Financially, it’s important that the partner has skin in the game, and the Becker family, which operates Smart Financial Centre, does, committing $10 million of the $84 million price tag and doing innumerable community and charitable outreaches as well. And the theater generates sales and use tax, which is a large part of the city’s general fund and budget, the mayor added.
Sugar Land was also able to leverage funds that are restricted for economic development purposes and cannot go to general fund operations of the city, added Jennifer May, assistant city manager. “This was done without touching any general property tax dollars, which is intriguing to a lot of cities.”
Feasibility studies in 2012 estimated in total direct and indirect community economic benefit of the theater would be over $26 million annually, May said. “We have no doubt they are exceeding that. Also, the study projected direct net new tax revenue. We have received over $580,000 directly from the venue in its first year of operation, nearly 50 percent greater than the feasibility. Smart Financial Centre has obliterated every projection they had.”
Larry Seidl, Smart Financial Credit Union CEO, has never regretted becoming title sponsor. He, too, has seen expectations exceeded.
“When the Centre opened, we felt this would be a successful partnership for all of the residents of Fort Bend County. After a very successful first year, the word has spread throughout the Houston area and beyond. It is in a lot of conversations across the state, so getting recognized all around the state was not even imaginable to begin with,” Seidl said in an e-mail interview.
Agreeing with the mayor that good partners are key, Seidl cited his comfort level that “Gary Becker and his team were very well known and respected in the entertainment arena. Gary and his team have exceeded all expectations, and that is the reason we wanted to be a part of something as special as this venue. We knew the partners had our same values and we jumped at the chance to be a part of this world-class facility. “
His advice to other corporations considering such an investment is to realize it is not just about naming rights. “It is more important that you align yourselves with key partners that have your same vision, work ethic and professionalism, and are committed to giving back to the citizens of their communities,” Seidl said.