‘Not financially wise’: Longview amphitheater proposal likely dead

Published 10:55 pm Wednesday, July 23, 2025

A proposal to build an amphitheater in Longview has stalled again.

Jim Leslie, managing principal of Wolverine Interests, and Steve Powers, founder and CEO of Red Cat Projects, first approached the city of Longview in 2017. At the time, their proposal to build the amphitheater at the southwest corner of Estes Parkway at Interstate 20 requested upfront money from the city and county to help finance the project.

The amphitheater would hold 10,000 people and host at least 30 shows per year. It’s been estimated that it would attract 250,000 people a year to the city’s south side. An entertainment district, where restaurants and retailers could locate, also was planned.

Local government officials chose not to move forward with the development at that time.

The developers returned earlier this summer with a new proposal for how the city and Gregg County could participate in helping to finance the amphitheater. The request didn’t ask for upfront cash but proposed a plan for each of those two entities to dedicate the first $4 million generated in property and sales taxes by the amphitheater to be directed toward helping to finance the project.

City Council members asked for more information, particularly about the financial side of the proposal and details about the entertainment district.

Powers and Leslie responded to the council’s questions, but Mayor Kristen Ishihara, though, decided not to grant their request for placement on another council agenda. The information the developers had provided was shared with other council members. Two members could have joined to have the proposal placed on the agenda again. However, Ishihara said none of the members made that request.

She told Powers and Leslie in an email in early July that she would not put it on an agenda at this time.

“At this time, the City is not prepared to offer an incentive for the project due to the number of uncertainties that currently exist – particularly related to the absence of detailed development plans for the entertainment district portion of the project, financing structure and sources and uses of funds. Considering incentives and supporting a destination of this scale requires we have a comprehensive understanding of the full site plan, including the entertainment district, its financing program and have a coordinated strategy for this development,” Ishihara told them.

“It is difficult to commit to incentives that encumber the entire site without having a clear understanding of programming, timing, infrastructure needs and any potential incentives needed for the entertainment district portion of the project. Your financing guy we met with last year told us specifically that those entertainment district retailers would want their own incentives. We cannot simply ‘hope’ that this would bring several retailers; we have to consider the project all together. “

She said the city also has been working with an attorney who has worked on these types of projects before. That attorney recommended the city not proceed.

“It would not be financially wise to enter into the agreement because we don’t have all the information,” Ishihara said.

Powers and Leslie are asking for incentives for the amphitheater, not for the entertainment district. But Ishihara said the businesses that locate in such a district would likely seek their own financial incentives to locate there. The City Council, though, doesn’t have all the information it needs about that part of the project, she said.

Former Mayor Dr. Andy Mack has been a proponent of the project since the beginning. He said this week he was “quite surprised” at the decision not to proceed.

“I guess we just don’t think the same way,” he said of the City Council. “It seems like such a great idea to me.”

He said the developers would not bring the project back to Longview.

“I think they made it pretty clear this council doesn’t want this kind of progress in the community,” Mack said.

He saw the project as a “huge source of revenue” for the city and growth and development in South Longview.

“I’m disappointed, but that’s the decision the council made,” he said.

Ishihara said she plans to relaunch the small area plan group dedicated to the I-20 area. Development in that area is a great need, she said.

“I care very much about (the I-20 area),” she said, adding she hopes conversations about improving that area continue.