Roanoke city officials announced late Friday afternoon that they have selected Charlottesville's Red Light Management to develop and manage an amphitheater at the former Victory Stadium site on Reserve Avenue.

A news release issued just before 6 p.m. said the city's selection committee thought that Red Light Management's proposal was "the most responsive to the city's needs" and also in Roanoke's "best interest."

"I think that the team's experience both in terms of designing facilities and managing the facilities, and intimate knowledge of Virginia's entertainment market was very important," said Brian Townsend, assistant city manager for community development.

Red Light is perhaps best known in Roanoke for its management of the Charlottesville Pavilion, which opened in 2005. Its founder, Coran Capshaw, founded the group in 1991 at the beginning of his 16-year stint managing the Dave Matthews Band.

Kirby Hutto, general manager of the 3,500-seat Charlottesville Pavilion, listed some of the artists already on that venue's summer schedule: Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Feist, Black Crowes, Phil Lesh and Friends, B.B. King, Kenny Rogers and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

"That's the level of artist that we've been able to bring into our venue here in Charlottesville," Hutto said. "We really feel like we're hitting our stride."

Hutto declined to comment in detail on Red Light's plans for Roanoke, but said it has "a really strong design team with a lot of the same individuals who worked on the Charlottesville Pavilion."

City officials have said they envision a 7,000-seat concert facility on a 9-acre site that could eventually be part of a riverfront park with an outdoor adventure and recreation theme.

Townsend said city officials will likely finalize a contract with the group during the coming week. Red Light will be responsible for three aspects of the project: completing a feasibility study, designing the facility and then operating the amphitheater once it's built.

Last year, a consultant estimated that building an amphitheater by the Roanoke River could cost $12.6 million. The project would entail the removal of the armory from the site.

In advertising the project last summer, the city asked potential developers how much they would be willing to invest in development costs. But Friday's news release states that "construction of the facility will be undertaken by the city."

Ken MacDonald, director of venue management for Red Light, said it's too early to say just what kind of an amphitheater will be constructed. "The first phase of the project is really getting an intimate understanding of what the site can support," he said.

The proposed location is in a flood-prone area. But that would not be a major obstacle for the project, MacDonald said.

"By nature, we're designing an outdoor music pavilion, so they are set up to withstand the weather and they are built for that," he said.

Before settling on the Reserve Avenue location, the city considered a second site in Elmwood Park, where some said an amphitheater would benefit from the nearby downtown restaurant and nightclub scene. But because the Reserve Avenue site was a done deal by the time Red Light got involved, "we did not evaluate alternative sites," MacDonald said.

Townsend said the contract will be broken down into phases that "will give the council milestones at which to approve the project" and also provide "milestones of public comment before the project proceeds to the next phase."

The council has been discussing the amphitheater project for months behind closed doors -- prompting one of its members to complain that the public has been shut out from the process.

In an e-mail to his council colleagues and top city administrators in December, Councilman Brian Wishneff predicted that a contract for the project would be awarded "before anyone in the public understands the bad business deal that we are heading toward."

Wishneff opposed the siting of the amphitheater on Reserve Avenue. He has also been critical of all five proposals the city received for the project, saying that none of the potential developers was willing to put in any of their own money to construct the amphitheater.

On Friday, Wishneff proposed abandoning the project in favor of capital projects in downtown Roanoke. Later in the day, when the city issued its news release indicating the amphitheater project will move forward, Wishneff was livid.

"Every time I think they've reached a new low of sliminess, they keep beating themselves," Wishneff said. "It's a group of thugs that ... hate democracy. They absolutely hate democracy. It's antithetical to them.

"As I said all along, it's a complete waste of money," Wishneff said of the planned contract with Red Light. "We've already got three groups -- the Jefferson Center, the civic center and EventZone -- that do the same thing. We're now spending money on a fourth group. No one should be hired."

Wishneff said he may file suit over the project.

"There's no way that they've followed procurement" rules, he said.

In February, Wishneff walked out of a closed session held to discuss the project, saying he did not believe the council's discussion was covered by state laws governing what elected bodies can do in executive session.

However, Maria Everett, executive director of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, said two weeks ago that her preliminary review of the case indicates that council was entitled to meet behind closed doors to protect its negotiating strategy.

The Roanoke Times has requested an official opinion from the advisory council on the issue; one had not been completed by Friday.

mason.adams@roanoke.com 981-3253

laurence.hammack@roanoke.com 981-3239