Historic Colorado Springs Civic Auditorium Set To Return To Former Glory With AVA Presents

It’s common to find an under-utilized theatre or auditorium, often under the purview of a municipal government with core priorities that might not involve live entertainment. But It’s uncommon to find one with so much immediate potential, in a growing major city with experienced operators eager to return it to its former active concert-hosting glory.

“We have this building that has this production capacity, which just wouldn’t get built now because it would cost an immense amount of money to do, but it’s here and we’re going to use it,” says Jesse Morreale, whose AVA Presents recently inked a deal with the city of Colorado Springs as public-private partner and managing operator of the historic City Auditorium. 

The venue, built over 100 years ago, has gone mostly unused in recent decades and operated by the city, but its history includes hosting legendary rock ‘n’ roll bands like Jimi Hendrix, Little RIchard, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield and, more recently, artists like Foo Fighters, Coheed & Cambria, Primus, Korn and many others. With two separate venues under one roof — the 4,000-plus capacity Auditorium Arena and 230-fixed-seat Auditorium Theatre — Morreale, a Colorado Springs local with previous experience at the venue, is eager to take advantage of the building’s ample space and ideal capacity for the growing market of Colorado Springs.

“It has a 68 by 50 foot stage, and that’s the same size stage we build in arenas a lot of times,” says Morreale, whose AVA Presents will operate and handle most of the booking at the venue, looking for holds as early as September and October of this year.

Renovations are currently underway, with phase one including modernization and reconfiguration of the arena and theater front of house, new concessions spaces including a new permanent restaurant, new in-house sound and lighting and a complete overhaul of ample backstage area. Brown Note Productions is handling sound and lighting design, Morreale said. Phase one is set to be complete in Q4 of 2026.

“We’re going to have seven star dressing rooms, all with in-suite showers and bathrooms, another 7,000-square feet of green room space and a game room and catering and production,” says Morreale, stressing the importance of hospitality for artist and tour personnel. 

“There’s a lot of space to spread out and I’ve been building restaurants and hotels for the last 10 years and I want to bring some of that experience to that backstage experience,” adds Morreale, whose company was formerly known as Nobody In Particular Presents and had partnerships with promoters including House of Blues, Fey Concerts and Colorado venues including the Paramount Theater, Fiddlers Green Amphitheater and Red Rocks.

The Civic Auditorium’s venue’s main Auditorium has a flat floor with horseshoe mezzanine and balcony seating.  “Half of the improvements are for this modernization, and the other half are for creature comforts.,” Morreale says. “I really like the idea of the intersection between hospitality that I’ve been working in for a while and venues, and I don’t know why there’s been such a disconnect between the two.”

Along with concerts and community events, Morreale sees potential for tour rehearsals at the Civic Auditorium, with major arenas having limited dates and being expensive to rent.

“This is such a huge opportunity not just for the community in Colorado Springs, but for the tour community that’s coming through Colorado,” Morreale says. “There is no option for any of these sizes in Colorado Springs and an open floor configuration. There is no 1,200-seat, 2,000-seat, 4,000-seat open floor or convertible to reserve seat building. Plus the reality is that Colorado Springs is its own market. It’s got its own radio, it’s got its own television, it’s got its own print. It’s pushing 1 million people in El Paso County now, and it’s not a secondary market anymore , really.”