Virginia Beach’s newest concert venue — The Dome — is due to open in Spring 2025, the city announced Friday.
The Dome is part of the Atlantic Park development, the Pharrell Williams-backed surf lagoon and events venue with apartments, businesses and restaurants that will take over the original Dome site at 19th Street and Pacific Avenue.
The venue will have a capacity of 3,500 people and will be able to host 1,500 more when giant sliding doors are open and it’s converted into an amphitheater-style stage. Operated in partnership with LiveNation, it will have around 100 events per year, the city said.
The name comes from the iconic dome-shaped Alan B. Shepard Convention Center, built on the site in 1958. That venue hosted legendary acts like Louis Armstrong, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and many more before closing in 1993.
At a council meeting in May, Councilmember Barbara Henley said the city had discussed redeveloping the Dome site as early as the 1980s, but plans never came to fruition.
The new Atlantic Park, she said, would be a game-changer for the city.
City officials are expecting hefty returns on their investment of $152 million into the project, betting on revenue from the concert venue and parking decks, as well as the increase in tourism and higher property values in the area.
The current project came together in 2018 when music superstar and Virginia Beach local Williams backed what was then known as “The Wave.” The surf lagoon and entertainment venue, which is being built by Venture Realty Group, will cost around $350 million overall.
The first show to play at the Dome will be announced “in the coming weeks,” the city said in a news release. Further announcements for 2025 acts at The Dome will follow.
In addition to The Dome, Atlantic Park will have two parking garages with about 1,500 spaces, a 2.7 acre surf lagoon, 300 apartment units and over 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space. Other elements of the park are projected to open in 2025 as well, though the city has not confirmed dates.
