Denver to get a amphitheater in Ruby Hill Park
Not just for sledding anymore…Denver’s Ruby Hill Park to get a live music venue. Photo by Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
The Denver Post
Denver’s Ruby Hill Park will get a new amphitheater that could host as many as 50 free concerts and other events each year.
Officials from the city of Denver, along with the nonprofit Levitt Pavilions, are expected to officially unveil the project this afternoon. Levitt Pavilions is a foundation, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., that contributes money toward performance venues across the country.
Typically, Levitt partners with a municipality and that is the case in Denver where the foundation has pledged $1.2 million to the project over five years. The city will contribute $2 million from funds left over from the Better Denver Bonds that voters approved in 2007.
The city has a $57 million pot of money remaining from the Better Denver initiative. The cash was earmarked for a renovation to Boettcher Concert Hall, but that project fell through when the Colorado Symphony Orchestra failed to come up with the matching funds it promised for the redo.
Levitt has also promised $100,000 a year for ongoing operational support of the amphitheater. The venue will host concerts year round, including “local, national and international acts,” according to a media release from the foundation. Some will be ticketed.
The venue will be operated by the nonprofit Friends of Levitt Pavilion Denver. The city recently completed $4 million worth of improvements in Ruby Hill that included a playground and a picnic shed. The park runs from Florida Avenue to Jewell Avenue, along South Platte River Drive.
Levitt has helped develop pavilions in Pasadena, Calif., Los Angeles, Memphis, and Arlington, Texas. The foundation’s mission is to make live music accessible to broad audiences.