KAZAMOTO

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Patrick Lyons is getting out of the Boston music scene. The House of Blues is getting back into it. Yesterday the Lyons Group confirmed it has sold properties located at 11-36 Lansdowne St., the site of shuttered clubs Avalon, Axis, Rocket Bar and Embassy - to Live Nation's House of Blues chain. Lyons' previously announced plan to reopen Avalon and Axis as the Lansdowne Street Music Hall has been scrapped. Live Nation Vice President of Communications John Vlautin confirmed the sale. "It's definitely going to be a House of Blues," Vlautin said. "We're coming home to the Boston market," said Aidan Scully, House of Blues senior vice president of development who helped launch the House of Blues chain's original location in Harvard Square in 1992. Scully said the Lansdowne Street House of Blues will open by the end of the year. "We're still putting in the final space plan and program," Scully said. "We're still solidifying the (construction) schedule, but the wrecking ball should show up shortly. It's an aggressive schedule." The new venue will hold roughly 2,500 music fans in a general admission setting. It will include a mezzanine level with seating, not unlike the balcony of the old Avalon Ballroom. The building will be expanded into the adjacent Modern, Embassy and Rocket Bar spaces, which will be converted into the House of Blues restaurant operation. "The whole package was put together as one property," Curry said. House of Blues was purchased by Live Nation last year, and currently has 10 venues under that name around the country, including one at Disney World. Unlike the pint-sized original Cambridge club, which closed in 2003, House of Blues venues no longer focus on blues and roots music, but present the same wide variety of pop and rock acts formerly presented at Avalon. The purchase of Avalon and Axis continues Live Nation's expansion, which includes a recent blockbuster deal to record and promote Madonna, and a tour promotion deal with Disney-rock band the Jonas Brothers. A major force in summer concerts and amphitheater shows around the United States, Live Nation is looking to increase its revenues in cold weather months by buying small to mid-sized music venues. In the past year, Live Nation has been expanding its operation under the Fillmore name, taking over and renaming venues such as Irving Plaza in New York City and the Jackie Gleason Theatre in Miami. News of the sale comes after Lyons agreed in December to sell the 650-person Paradise Rock Club on Commonwealth Avenue to a partnership between Live Nation and local pub owner Joe Dunne. Lyons did not immediately return calls seeking comment.Lyons' remaining properties on Lansdowne Street include Bill's Bar, Jake Ivory's Piano Bar, Mexican eatery La Verdad and the sports bar Game On. Only Bill's presents original live music.