For Rock Lititz, a noteworthy start

The developers of Rock Lititz Studio are beginning to see their work and investment rewarded.

The production-rehearsal facility, nearing completion, has landed its first client, who will rent the building for all of October.

“We’re starting on a positive note,” said Andrea Shirk, program manager for the Rock Lititz campus, which includes the studio.

Meeting planned to air noise concerns

Looking to be “good neighbors,” the developers of Rock Lititz Studio will meet with nearby residents worried that loud music might emanate from it.

Shirk, who declined to name that initial client, said the studio also is having “discussions” with other potential clients.

Interest in the remainder of the campus — dedicated to the live-event industry — is strong as well, she said on Friday.

“We’re getting great feedback from the industry, both from folks who’d use the studio and from companies who’d relocate to the campus,” Shirk said.

The studio and the campus are being developed by Clair Global and Tait Towers, two Lititz-based leaders in the concert-tour industry.

Clair Global is the industry’s biggest audio firm and Tait Towers the largest staging firm.

For years, production managers for touring rock and pop groups have lamented the lack of affordable, convenient production-rehearsal space.

This is where audio, video, staging, lighting and scenic elements for a touring artist’s show are programmed, set up and tested.

Then the operation of those systems is rehearsed.

All of this work, of course, is done before the tour hits the road.

Typically, production managers look for available sports arenas, a setting that’s less than ideal.

Arenas can be expensive to rent, inconvenient to reach and far from critical vendors who might be needed to troubleshoot a problem.

Rock Lititz Studio, the first facility in North America built solely for production rehearsals, is intended to solve those problems.

It will be reasonably priced, close to major roads and population centers, dedicated solely to production rehearsals and in the backyard of many key vendors, such as Clair Global and Tait Towers.

Rock Lititz Studio will not be used for rehearsals or performances by musicians.

The studio is being constructed behind Clair Global’s Ellen Avenue headquarters, west of Route 501.

The studio site is part of the 96-acre Rock Lititz campus. That property stretches north to West Newport Road.

Clair Global and Tait Towers proposed the studio and campus in 2012.

The studio is the first and only building under construction on the campus so far.

In the years ahead, though, Rock Lititz officials see the campus being a hub for the live-event industry, as Hollywood is for the movie industry.

Developing the studio and installing infrastructure (such as streets and utilities) for the campus is estimated to cost more than $7 million.

Rock Lititz won a $3 million state grant in December to help fund this first phase.

The cost of the entire campus could exceed $100 million.

Originally, Rock Lititz’s developers planned on having 10 buildings on the campus totaling about one million square feet.

Now they’re looking at having fewer, larger buildings.

They still will total about a million square feet, though, bringing an estimated 600-plus new jobs to the community.

Illustrating the revision, the second building to be constructed at Rock Lititz could be a 250,000-square-foot structure for about 15 tenants, Shirk said.

Like the studio itself, this large multi-tenant building is the result of Clair Global and Tait Towers listening to the industry.

“We’re finding that tenants who are looking to come here want to be part of something. They want to interact with other tenants,” Shirk said.

The multi-tenant building will feature shared spaces, such as conference rooms and a cafeteria.

The idea is to make it easier for tenants to get to know each other and collaborate.

The new campus layout will be reflected in a new master plan to be submitted to the township in July or August.

Meanwhile, construction of Rock Lititz Studio, a pre-engineered metal building, continues to progress.

Started in March, the 53,000-square-foot building is under roof. Building construction is on schedule for an August completion.

It then will take some weeks to install equipment, furniture and the like.

So the building possibly could be ready for use in August or September, Shirk said.

This is no ordinary industrial building, though.

While it will have roughly the footprint of a supermarket, its roof will be 100 feet up, to replicate the height of major concert arenas.

That will be about half of the height of two downtown Lancaster landmarks, the Griest Building, at 208 feet, and the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square tower, at 210 feet.

The studio’s ceiling grid, 80 feet above the floor, will support the hanging of a million pounds of equipment.

The studio will have three full-time employees.

It also will hire contract labor to unload a group’s equipment trucks, set up the equipment, take down the equipment and reload the trucks.

That equipment will be brought into the building via four loading docks. Parking will be provided for 30 trucks.

Rock Lititz Studio is expected to be an oasis for harried production managers.

For years, they’ve scoured the country in search of arenas with open dates for the rehearsals, which can run as long as eight weeks.

Often these arenas are not available for a continuous stretch of time that’s long enough to accommodate the entire rehearsal period.

That means the equipment has to be taken down and removed so the hockey game or whatever can happen, then brought back in and set up again.

Frequently, production managers turned to officials at Clair Global and Tait Towers, wondering if they knew of any available space.

They do now.

Source: Lancaster Online