CONCERT VENUE COMING TO RIVER NORTH AREA
State-of-the-art concert venue to anchor North Wynkoop RiNo project
A landscape-changing project is on its way to a Denver neighborhood already full of them.
Pre-eminent local concert promoter AEG Presents on Monday announced work is underway on a new concert venue and event space in Denver’s River North district.
The Mission Ballroom will be an adaptable space capable of accommodating 2,200 to 3,950 guests when it opens in RiNo in the summer of 2019. AEG executives say they spent more than a decade seeking the perfect spot to build “one of the finest venues this town has ever seen” before homing in on the northern reaches of burgeoning RiNo. When it opens, it will give AEG a venue that is comparable in size to Colfax Avenue’s 3,700-capacity Fillmore Auditorium, owned by competitor Live Nation.
“AEG Presents Rocky Mountain has always been on a mission to bring the greatest concert experiences to our community, and this is the next step in that job,” said the promoter’s co-president, Don Strasburg.
The 60,000-square-foot venue will anchor North Wynkoop, a 14-acre, threeblock, mixed-use development slated to occupy the space from 40th to 43rd streets down Brighton Boulevard. The project, helmed by Westfield Co., is also set to
include housing, retail space, a hotel and future phases that could add another 1 million square feet of resident and commercial use.
Among the 300 or so residential units Westfield projects it will build at North Wynkoop, a chunk is expected to be reserved as affordable space for artists and creatives, said Kevin McClintock, a senior partner with the developer. Artist housing has been a concern in arts-centric RiNo for years, especially since its DIY space, Rhinoceropolis, was shut down in late 2016 amid fire safety concerns.
“We’re focused into turning this into an arts and entertainment hub,” McClintock said of the project. “The neighborhood is obviously seeing a lot of these folks pushed out from an affordability perspective. That’s really the backbone and roots of the neighborhood, and we’re tying to come up with an opportunity for them in the project.”
The Denver Post first reported on the North Wynkoop project in 2016; Westfield had signed an exclusive negotiating agreement with nonprofit developer Artspace to hammer out a development plan for 80 to 100 permanently affordable live-work space for artists there. A deal has not yet been finalized, but McClintock said Westfield is still working with Artspace and views it as a great partner.
Wendy Holmes, a senior vice president with Artspace, is “100 percent sure” that a deal will be worked out. Artspace — which has worked on 15 projects in Colorado to date — envisions both work space and affordable apartments as part of the project, she said. She expects the apartments to be reserved for people making 60 percent or less of area median income.
“Artists have been displaced now for quite a few years in RiNo,” Holmes said. “Denver at large has a giant need for affordable housing and a subset of that need would be for creative people and artists.”
In addition to the Mission Ballroom, work is underway on a 234car underground garage, and a 90,000-square-foot office and retail building at the site. Crews are also revamping 80,000 square feet of existing warehouse space there, McClintock said.
The complex is near the Interstate 70-Interstate 25 interchange, providing prime vehicle access that AEG was seeking when picking a spot for its next major venue. It will also be served by multimodal transit, located near the 38th and Blake street RTD rail station on the University of Colorado A-Line.
In size and layout, Mission Ballroom will be similar to its main competition, the Fillmore, with wrap-around balconies and a general admission standing room. It will also feature riser seating across the back and upper levels of the venue, inspired by Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Its most notable innovation is a stage mounted on trolleys, AEG’s Strasburg said. It is capable of being moved around based on the size of the crowd, a feature meant to make smaller shows feel commensurately intimate.