Live Nation puts Chicago venue on block

TINLEY PARK, Ill., June 6 (UPI) -- U.S. live-events company Live Nation Inc. has added the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater near Chicago to the outdoor arenas it is selling, the company said.

The 28,000-capacity outdoor concert venue on 110 acres in Tinley Park, Ill., joins Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Noblesville, Ind., the Germain Amphitheater in Columbus, Ohio, and Sleep Train Amphitheater in Marysville, Calif., on the market, the company said.

In May, Live Nation, of Beverly Hills, Calif. -- a 2005 spin-off from Clear Channel Communications Inc. -- sold the Starwood Amphitheater in Antioch, Tenn., for an undisclosed amount.

Depending who buys the Tinley Park amphitheater, the property could continue functioning as a concert venue, be turned into warehouses or used for other industrial purposes, the suburban Chicago Daily Southtown reported.

Live Nation -- the world's largest live music company -- recently partnered with CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., the world's largest commercial real estate services firm, to evaluate its U.S. property holdings.

Putting the property up for sale "does not mean that a sale is imminent or necessarily guaranteed," a Live Nation spokesman told the newspaper.

U.S. country music singer-songwriter Toby Keith is scheduled to be the Tinley Park amphitheater's final act this year.