Colorado Springs City Council voted unanimously this week to lease the City Auditorium to AVA Presents, a live entertainment company.
The once lively building that has hosted everything from political rallies to artists like Jimi Hendrix and Van Morrison, and roller derby competitions, has seen better days. The historical event space was built in 1923 and is owned by the city. After failed deals with outside groups to take over the building and revamp the space, it is still currently unoccupied and needing work.
Jesse Morreale owns AVA Presents. He said he knows the reasons why some of the past failures occurred and is going to use the space as an event space for things like concerts. The most recent tenant, Colorado Springs Community Cultural Collective, failed to raise enough capital to complete its multimillion-dollar project.
“I think that the fundamental difference between what I'm planning to do and what previous RFP (Request For Proposal) recipients or even presenters proposed is that I don't want to use the building for anything different than what it was built for,” Morreale said in an interview with KRCC
That, he said, will help keep costs low.
The city estimates there is $17 million in deferred maintenance. Nearly $3 million of that is considered an immediate need, according to presentations a city solutions team gave city council.
Under the approved proposal, the city would lease the property to Morreale for below fair market value. In return, Morreale agrees to fix up the venue.
If the lease is ultimately signed, Morreale will be required to spend the difference between what his rent is and what a fair market value lease would be. According to the city, this would add up to around an investment of $850,000 over the course of five years.
Still, that's more than $2.1 million less than what a consulting group the city hired estimated the building had in “immediate need of deferred maintenance,” according to the solutions team presentations.
Ryan Trujillo, deputy chief of staff of the mayor's office, said he still thinks the $850,000 investment will be enough to move the dial on improving the building and opening it up to the public.
“I do think it will make an impact on some aesthetics and some needs that will really activate the space,” Trujillo said.
He said the city will still be on the hook for some expensive fixes if things like the boiler were to go out or the roof needed to be replaced.
The ultimate goal is to open the historic event space back up to the public, while potentially taking some of the hefty cost of fixing up the property off the city's shoulders.
“What I do hope is that City Aud can act as a center of gravity for downtown in this catalyst for an economic and other renaissance of downtown,” Morreale said.
For now, and for the foreseeable future, Trujillo said the city probably won't be able to kick in extra funds to improve the space.
“It'll likely be multiple years before we'd even be in a position to even have that discussion,” Trujillo said. “So just based on the other needs of 160 buildings across the city and the core municipal services that we provide, it's going to be challenging for us to make investment.”
The lease now heads to Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade's desk, where he has to approve the final version. After that, it will be offered to AVA Presents.
Morreale said it will take at least a year of renovations to start hosting events.
“I would expect that by this time next year, for sure, we should be in full operation, but I wouldn't expect that by this time next year, there will be all of the improvements and amenities that I want to put into place actually completed,” Morreale said.
