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The investment firm that owns the former Lafayette Square Mall is expanding its entertainment offerings in the International Marketplace district.
Sojos Capital LLC will launch music venue La Flaca at the Square this weekend in a retail strip southeast of the mall site. In November, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema opened west of the mall in a building owned by Sojos.
Cebronica Luft, co-founder of Pavilion 360, the company managing La Flaca, said the 1,800-capacity music venue is the brainchild of Sojos Capital CEO Fabio de la Cruz. In 2021, when de la Cruz unveiled his plans for a $200 million development known as Window to the World, the future home of La Flaca at 3733 Commercial Drive was designated as “international concert center.”
By January 2024, de la Cruz revised his plan and ditched “Window to the World” for present name The Square. Despite major changes in the overall project, the idea for a concert venue survived.
“We’re hoping it becomes a primary destination for live music,” said Luft, who presented artists ranging from rapper Jeezy to EDM star Deadmau5 to rock band Mt. Joy when she managed downtown’s the Pavilion at Pan Am.
A healthy portion of La Flaca’s schedule will be devoted to Latin stars on tour, thanks to a partnership with New York-based concert company Zamora Live.
Luft also sees room for shows representing other styles.
“We’ll have DJ sets and concerts, similar to the Pavilion experience,” she said, “but also brand activations and private events and cultural events, as well. We’ve worked with Sojos and Fabio, and La Flaca is intentionally designed with flexibility and performance in mind.”
The first public events at La Flaca at the Square are planned for July, Luft said.
The venue occupies 25,000 square feet in a building that was home to a T.J. Maxx store in the 1990s. The venue south of 38th Street is part of a retail strip north of Saraga International Grocery.
“We have state-of-the-art green rooms with private bathrooms and showers for artists,” she said. “We have ample areas for tours to load in.”
Luft opened the Pavilion at Pan Am in 2015 with business partners Jason Jenkins, Jason Stellema and Jason Amonett. The 3,000-capacity venue took over a building that previously was home to an ice-skating rink.
Rapper T.I., DJ-producer Tiesto and rock band Fall Out Boy were among the venue’s headlining attractions before construction of the Signia by Hilton hotel at Pan Am Plaza wiped out the building.
Since the closure of the Pavilion at Pan Am in 2022, the Pavilion 360 management company added two spaces that specialize in private events: Canal Pointe, 337 W. 11th St., and Nevermore, 302 S. Meridian St.
Luft said she’s appreciative of de la Cruz’s vision.
“I am always impressed with the level of investment and quality that Fabio puts into his projects,” she said. “Everything he’s bringing to The Square elevates what’s already on that side of town.”
For more information about La Flaca at the Square, visit laflacalive.com.
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It’s nice to see some backfill on that shopping center. It’s desperately needed some new tenants in there.
I believe at one point the city wanted to move traffic court to this building, but the neighborhood did not like the idea and I can’t say I blame them. I wouldn’t want a bunch of allegedly dangerous drivers commuting to my neighborhood either.
I believes this marks the 4th major development from this group on the west side. It is nice to see them really putting in a lot of work to this side of town.