Brian Slattery Photos
Cafe Tacuba at College Street in September.
College Street Music Hall contributed over $16 million to the city’s economy in 2018, and created 280 jobs, according to a report commissioned by the New Haven Center for Performing Arts, the nonprofit that operates the venue.
Mahler.
Concert promoter Keith Mahler presented the results of the report alongside city officials on Wednesday morning in the lobby of College Street Music Hall.
The report, prepared by Mark Gius, a professor of economics at Quinnipiac University, drew its conclusions by surveying 989 of the 70,679 people who came to see a show at College Street last year.
The survey found that, on average, College Street patrons spent $146.56 in the course of their evening in New Haven. Half of that was spent on tickets at College Street; the other half on the rest of their night out (think dinner, drinks, and parking). This direct spending by customers added up to $10,354,317 for New Haven’s downtown economy. The report estimated that this spending by patrons created an additional $5,706,264 in economic activity — say, neighboring businesses hiring more workers, who then themselves spend more in the city. Part of that $5 million figure is what accounts for the estimated 280 new jobs.
Mahler and Mayor Toni Harp agreed that the results of the report aligned with their perceptions of College Street Music Hall’s impact.
Mayor Harp (at right) with Deputy Economic Development Director Steve Fontana.
“There’s no question that New Haven’s resurgent nightlife has been brought to life by this venue,” Harp said. “Now there are numbers to hold up the sense that we have had.”
“We were astounded and elated” by the results of the report, Mahler said, noting that College Street had plenty of room to grow. Last year College Street ran shows 77 nights out of the year; this year the hall is on target to put on over 90 shows, with further plans to ramp up the programming.
“We opened today four years ago,” Mahler said. “It’s four years old and it’s still a baby.”
Mahler also said that neighboring bars and restaurants have been supportive, asking him to “add more shows, add more nights.”
When asked about one of College Street’s attempts to ramp up its programming — a deal that fell through in January with the city’s parking authority to renovate a space on Crown Street Garage’s first floor and open it as a smaller venue — Mahler said, “I never look back.”
“We have an alternative model to it,” he said, adding: “Sometimes bureaucrats get in the way of progress.”