Duluth Authority Renews Eddie Owen's Red Clay Contract

The Duluth Downtown Development Authority DDA Tuesday (June 18) voted to renew Eddie Owen’s $75,000 annual contract to manage Red Clay and book acts at the 257-seat downtown music venue with minor revisions. The amount of the contract is the same as last year.

The contract requires Owen, a legendary music promoter, to present a minimum of 10 shows a month at the city-owned facility and provide monthly reports.

Chris McGahee, economic development manager for the city, said Owen is “averaging about 19 shows a month now.” Owen’s current contract expires in August.

Owen has been presenting shows as “Eddie Owen Presents” at Red Clay, formerly called the Red Clay Theatre, since December 2011. Initially, Owen leased the facility from the city, but that agreement was terminated and replaced with the management contract.

The DDA also approved hiring the firm of Gardner, Spencer, Smith. Tench & Jarbeau to provide architectural design and engineering services for a proposed expansion of Red Clay at the standard fee of 8 percent of the construction cost or about $80,000. Cost of building the addition is estimated at about $1 million.

As proposed the project includes expanding the existing basement and first-floor pre-function area, adding restrooms, and constructing a second floor outdoor rooftop tavern that Owen would operate.

Duluth City Manager Tim Shearer said the Duluth City Council would probably use reserve funs to construct the addition rather than issuing bonds.

DDA member Ron Osterloh added an amendment that would limit the design cost to the amount of actual work done if the city should decide not to proceed with the project.

Owen informed the DDA that work on renovating the existing basement into a music school should begin soon with build-out expected to take about three weeks. Owen is using $25,000 donated by the Duluth Fall Festival Executive Committee to fund the renovation.