House of Blues founder remaking Hollywood Palace.

The Hollywood Palace, one of Hollywood's oldest live music venues, will be rebranded next month after a group led by House of Blues co-founder John Lyons puts the finishing touches on improvements for the 76-year-old building at 1735 Vine St.

Hollywood Entertainment Partners, whose principals are Lyons and fellow club operator Steven Adelman, is investing between $2 million and $3 million in upgrades. Improvements are being made to the stage and balcony of the 1,500-capacity theater, as well as the on-site restaurant that will be reopened as a French bistro after being shuttered for about five years.

While the Palace has been open through the renovations, Sept. 15 will mark its debut as Avalon.

"There are certain things that needed to be improved--the sound system, the surfaces and creature comforts," said Lyons, who has opened about 50 clubs nationwide in the last 25 years.

The reopening will culminate a year-long process for Boston-based Lyons and Adelman, who entered into a long-term deal to master lease the property from owner Kay Neill. In June, HEP brought on Clear Channel Entertainment as Avalon's exclusive live entertainment promoter.

It also marks a return to the Hollywood nightclub scene for Lyons, who with Isaac Tigrett and Dan Aykroyd, among other investors, opened the first House of Blues in Cambridge, Mass. in 1992. He was an investor in West Hollywood's version when it opened two years later. Lyons said he is no longer and investor in the company.

The name change will be the third in the long history of the Palace site, which opened as the Hollywood Playhouse in 1927, was named the Hollywood Palace in 1964, and has been home to a range of entertainment, from "The Merv Griffin Show" to Prince concerts.