Is it lights out for the Cats Cradle?

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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The Chapel Hill News has the story:

CARRBORO — Are the Cat’s Cradle’s Carrboro days numbered?

In urging the Board of Aldermen to approve the 300 East Main Street project Tuesday night, development team partner Laura Van Sant said any further delay could send Cradle owner Frank Heath packing.

“It is a fact he has landlords in Durham offering him free space,” Van Sant repeated Wednesday.

In an e-mail statement, Heath said he gets regular inquiries about relocating the Cradle to a larger space in one of the Triangle’s other cities.

“It can get a bit frustrating knowing that our current spot really is where this venue needs to stay, while also knowing that we could benefit from a larger space,” Heath wrote.

When asked whether he’d been offered rent-free space in Durham, Heath said it was more along the lines of booking shows elsewhere than a space of his own elsewhere.

From a competitive standpoint, the Cradle could benefit from a capacity larger than its current cap of around 600. Many acts bypass the Triangle for larger clubs such as Asheville’s 940-capacity Orange Peel.

The 300 East Main Street developers say they want to keep the existing tenants — and Heath wants to keep the Cradle in Carrboro.

“We have an adequate facility, and it carries a unique charm for many of the people who attend concerts here,” he said in a separate e-mail to Mayor Mark Chilton and the aldermen.

“But the current location for Cat’s Cradle, with its space and design limitations, is not the best we can do,” he continued, “and I feel like one of the objectives of the 300 East Main Street developers has always been to provide for Cat’s Cradle … a space that will help us all fulfill that vision of having a truly first-class facility that will fit this area’s live music needs during the years and the decades to come.”