A new management company could soon begin working with Colorado Springs to bring the music back to City Auditorium.

City staff presented a resolution to the Colorado Springs City Council on Monday to lease the venue to a promotion and management company called AVA Presents, at below-market rate. AVA Presents would manage the building’s renovations while partnered with the city, and handle the operations and programming for the auditorium once it reopens.

The proposed lease would start with a five-year term, with the option to renew the agreement every five years until 2050. The final approval for the resolution will take place during the July 8 City Council meeting.

The City Auditorium at 221 E. Kiowa St. has presented concerts and community events since it was built by the city in 1923, though it hasn’t been a major concert host for more than a decade. The interior of the historic venue is split between the main central concert area, which is ringed with balcony seats, and the Lon Chaney Theater.

AVA Presents, also known as Alternative Venue Alliance, is a new company but founder Jesse Morreale has been working in Colorado Springs’ music scene for decades. A Colorado Springs native, Morreale said he grew up attending concerts at City Auditorium and eventually spent years booking and promoting major bands that played there, including Korn, Sublime, White Zombie and Sarah McLachlan.

Morreale told the City Council he wanted to retain as much of the building’s character as he could and was “vehemently opposed” to a previous proposal to reconfigure the main room.

“I hope part of it is that my interest in it is very genuine. It’s not an interest in changing its historic nature or the design or its continued place that I think it should have in downtown,” Morreale said.

Colorado Springs Deputy Chief of Staff Ryan Trujillo said the city will technically charge the fair market rate of around $13,000 per month for the lease. The resolution allows for the renovation work to count as an in-kind payment instead of paying the city direct rent. The arrangement requires approval by the City Council to allow payments technically below market value.

The proposal is the latest in a series of city efforts to find a partner able to manage the auditorium’s long-term return. In 2021, the city entered an agreement with the nonprofit Colorado Springs Community Cultural Collective to raise millions of dollars to renovate the auditorium. In 2023 the collective ended the agreement, citing struggles with fundraising for a proposed $53 million overhaul.

When the agreement ended, Colorado Springs put together a solutions team of city staff and community leaders to brainstorm a new approach. The city sent out a request for proposals for other companies and nonprofits to submit their plans to partner with the city on improvements. Morreale’s proposal was selected as the winning bid.

“What is the best possible way that someone could come in and start using the auditorium, to not have to wait for a full remodel process?” said Jariah Walker, Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority director, who co-chaired the auditorium solutions team.

Morreale had been a partner in Nobody in Particular Presents, a music promotion company that had dominated Denver’s music scene in the 1990s and early 2000s at the Ogden, Bluebird and Gothic theaters. Morreale also managed Colorado Music Hall before it became Stargazers Theatre and Event Center, which he said was a good comparison for the new project.

“How do we make a modern experience for everyone from the artists to the fans, but still keep the historic integrity of the building?” Morreale said.

The auditorium needs at least $17 million in repairs to be fully caught up on deferred maintenance, according to the staff presentation. The planned improvements include improving or adding new HVAC systems, repairing damaged seats and expanding the backstage rooms for visiting performers.

The proposal was greeted with enthusiasm from the City Council, as well as questions about the logistics of the new public-private partnership. Councilmember Brian Risley pressed for more specifics to be included in the lease about which work the city would be responsible for, and which would be taken on by AVA.

Trujillo said the city would still be responsible for systemic or structural repairs, while AVA Presents would focus more on quality-of-life issues such as the seating, bathrooms and backstage areas.

“I think there needs to be some clarity … memorialized in the lease, so it’s clear going forward what the actual deal is, the rules of the road,” said Risley, pointing to the new air conditioning system as an improvement that could blur the line over who was responsible for the work.

Morreale asked for patience before the auditorium is ready to host major shows again. If the lease is approved in July, his team will begin going through the building for a more in-depth evaluation of the needed improvements. Morreale said parts of the building may open at different times, but it would take until at least the summer of 2026 to book performances.