Bill Reid turned a more-than-80-year-old former athletic club in Norfolk into one of Rolling Stone's top five rock clubs in the country.

He thinks he can do the same thing for The National, a more-than-80-year-old former vaudeville theater in downtown Richmond.

The NorVa, the venue Reid opened eight years ago in downtown Norfolk, will be featured in Rolling Stone's "Best of Rock" issue hitting newsstands next Friday. The 1,500-capacity club will share honors for best rock club with places in New York City, Detroit, Austin, Tex., and Asheville, N.C.

The magazine says it will tout the NorVa's historical character and modern amenities, including a backstage basketball court, game room, hot tub and sauna -- all of which make it a favored stop for touring bands.

"What we've done at The National is even better than what we did at NorVa," Reid said at a breakfast meeting of the Greater Richmond Chamber yesterday at Willow Oaks Country Club in South Richmond.

Reid owns Rising Tide Productions in Norfolk and is a partner in RIC Capital Ventures, which bought and restored The National, built in 1923 as a vaudeville theater on East Broad Street at North Seventh Street.

He loves the city's historic architecture and noticed increasing intensity a few years ago in downtown Richmond's real estate market, but his ideas for The National didn't fit with the ambitious plans of a performing-arts consortium. He said he got a second chance when Mayor L. Douglas Wilder withheld city support for the performing-arts proposals, and The National became available.

"The leadership in the city changed," Reid said yesterday. "It was a reason to come downtown."

Now, The National is a reason for more people -- especially young people -- to come downtown, just as the NorVa has turned into one of the biggest draws for downtown Norfolk. The NorVa sits on Monticello Avenue across from the MacArthur Center mall. Since opening in 2000, the concert venue has staged 1,500 shows.

The National opened Feb. 22, and The Temptations will headline a grand-opening show April 19.

In the 50 days the club has been open, Reid said, it has staged 26 shows for 26,000 concert-goers with musical acts ranging from country music legend Willie Nelson to Irish-American punk rockers Flogging Molly.

"I'm really excited to be at the forefront of a city on the move," Reid said.
Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz@timesdispatch.com.