Eastside Detroit’s infamous Harpos Concert Theatre could be getting a facelift.
The venue, which books mostly metal and hip-hop acts, is seeking investors via a listing by the Southfield-based Farbman Group.
Farbman broker Brad Margolis told Kurk Pinho of Crain’s Detroit Business that Harpos owner Ruzvelt Stevanovski plans to use proceeds on improvements to the venue.
“The owner is looking to stay and continue running it,” Margolis told Crain’s. “He’s looking for some money to inject into renovations and upgrades to do more shows, looking for Harpos to continue the legacy it has, remain a concert hall, and kind of revitalize it. If someone came in and wanted to change the use, he’s not interested in that.”
Honestly, it needs a lot of TLC.
Harpos was a bit of a dump when I started going to metal shows there as a high school student in the mid-2000s, but that’s also what made it such a great rock ’n’ roll venue.
Cigarette-stained carpets, dingy lighting, and musty bathrooms added to its rugged feel and gave it a bit of old-school charm. I haven’t set foot in Harpos since I was a teenager, but I have good memories of the place. I went to my first-ever metal show there (Otep of all things) and fondly remember getting sprayed with alien blood by shock rock band Gwar, who seemed to play there every year around Halloween.
Harpos opened as a movie theater in the 1930s before transitioning to a nightclub in the 1970s, and it became a metal venue in 1979. The venue has hosted acts like Iron Maiden, Poison, Run DMC, and Snoop Dogg over the years.
According to our readers, the bathrooms are just as scary as I remember.
Harpos is located at 14238 Harper Ave., Detroit.
This post was updated to make clear that the venue is not for sale, and is only seeking investors.
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