Maybee's Brucks gets green light on Ohio amphitheater

Suzanne Nolan Wisler, The Monroe News
·2 min read
A rendering of the proposed Waterville Landing Entertainment District is shown.
A rendering of the proposed Waterville Landing Entertainment District is shown.

Hunter Brucks’ Waterville, Ohio, amphitheater project was recently approved by the city council of Waterville.

Brucks, a Maybee native, announced plans in July to build the Waterville Landing Entertainment District, an outdoor amphitheater, just off U.S. 24 and State Route 64 in Waterville, about 45 miles south of Monroe.

The Waterville City Council recently approved the plan 4-2.

“We won,” Brucks said. “It’s been such a long, drawn out process, brutal at times. The council has protocols, three meetings to pass the ordinance for conditional use and building.”

The two dissenting votes were cast by Mayor Tim Pedro and a council member who lives in the subdivision near the future theater site.

Brucks
Brucks

The amphitheater, which will be built on former farmland, is facing resistance from some local residents.

“The ‘not in my back yard’ people. They were hell-bent against it. We got through it, and we won. Here we go,” Brucks said.

The day after the vote, Brucks and his team applied for permits. He expected dirt will be moved by mid- to late March, and construction will take about a year. A grand opening is tentatively set for May 2024.

In January, Brucks surveyed the area and found the Waterville, Ohio, site.

“When I saw the property, I fell in love with it and said, ‘This is it. This is where it should be. Right here,’” he told The News.

Brucks also designed the theater.

“I took the greatest of places I’ve performed at. I knew what not to do. It’s a beautiful, 9,373-capacity, open-air, state-of-the-art amphitheater. I’m very happy and proud of my team,” Brucks said.

Waterville Landing Entertainment District will have 5,200 fixed, stadium-style seats along with box suites. The facility also will have a lifted berm lawn area, dressing rooms, catering rooms, concessions and box offices. Parking will accommodate 2,500 vehicles.

“It’s a musical ballpark,” Brucks said. “I’m pretty proud of that.”

Brucks is president of HBC Management LLC and HB Concerts Inc. He has 40 years’ experience as a performer, concert promotor and producer.

He partnered with Ohio-based Devonshire REIT to build the amphitheater. The project is estimated at more than $20 million.

“This is going to be the biggest and most state-of-the-art venue to ever be built in the Toledo area,” Brucks said.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Maybee's Brucks gets green light on Ohio amphitheater