The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh will soon have a new name. Martin Marietta will pay more than $500,000 a year for at least the next 20 years to rename the venue the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.
“You may be asking yourselves why we’re interested in doing this now,” CEO Ward Nye said to the City Council Tuesday night.
“And, in short, it’s a story of growth and a sense of duty to our community,” Nye said. “We’ll be celebrating our 30th year as a public company. And now is the right time for us to broaden partnerships with our Raleigh community, and more meaningfully demonstrate our fidelity to it.”
The 20-year lease includes two optional five-year extensions and requires the construction supplier to pay the city $518,000 a year with a 3% annual increase.
The vote passed unanimously Tuesday night.
The contract with Duke Energy was ending and the company did not try to keep the naming rights, according to the city.
The Performing Arts Center consists of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, Meymandi Concert Hall, A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater, Kennedy Theatre and Lichtin Plaza located at 2 E. South St. in downtown Raleigh.
The venue is home to regular productions by the North Carolina Theatre, Carolina Ballet, the N.C. Symphony, PineCone and North Carolina Opera as well as touring theatrical productions, concerts and comedy shows.
“We don’t have a lot of corporate headquarters here,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. “So when we see one of our headquarters stand up and take a leadership role it’s great to see. So, thank you very much.”
