DENVER — The city is making strides in the creation of a new cultural hub with its purchase of the "historic" May Stanton Bonfils Theatre, former library and some of the surrounding units at the Loretto Heights campus in southwest Denver, the Arts and Venues department said in a release Thursday.
Denver Arts and Venues (DAV) said it finalized the real estate closing process for the property on Wednesday as part of a project working to "rejuvenate" the campus. “Our goal of returning the theatre and library at Loretto Heights to public use and expanding arts and entertainment to an area of the city that has been underserved continues to get closer to reality," said Ginger White, executive director of DAV.
According to the cultural hub's website, Pfeiffer, a Perkins Eastman architectural design studio, is conducting the renovations. The following are listed as expected results of the studio's design efforts:
- Renovation of the theater— the second-largest indoor theater in the city— as well as its support spaces.
- Construction of a new parking structure.
- Transformation of the adjacent library to accommodate new arts, educational and cultural activities, local arts organizations and touring productions.
- Creation of spaces in the back of the building, including dressing rooms and green rooms.
- Upgraded, accessible lobby.
- Landscape improvements to accommodate for special events, small performances and cultural activities.
The project's virtual site said Pfeiffer will transform the building's interior while maintaining its "historical" exterior— the campus dates back to 1888, when the now-defunct Loretto Heights College was originally established. The college then became Teikyo Loretto Heights University and later Colorado Heights University, which closed in 2016, per the website.
Denver residents voted to support the project by approving $30 million in funding from the RISE Bond Funding Program in 2021, the same year City Council unanimously voted to rezone the campus and create a "live-work-play community" with affordable housing.
But the campus' repurposing is a long time coming: the plan to redevelop Loretto Heights was first approved in 2019 after Westside Investment Partners purchased the property in 2018 following the closure of Colorado Heights University.
The redevelopment also led to the closure of a cemetery located at the campus in 2022, which the Sisters of Loretto operated for more than a century— subsequently, the remains of 62 nuns were exhumed and moved to Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery in Wheat Ridge.
DAV and Pfeiffer are holding meetings to inform the surrounding community about future plans for the campus. The next meeting will take place Wednesday, Sept. 13 in the cafeteria at Church of All Saints, located at 2559 S. Federal Blvd.
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