Artspace in Colorado

in COLORADO

Driving Economic Development in Rural & Mountain Communities Through the Arts

What We Do

Our mission is to create, foster, and preserve affordable and sustainable space for artists and arts organizations.

Create

Artspace uses the tools of real estate development to construct or restore places where artists can affordably live and work.

See what’s coming soon

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Foster

Artspace supports and contributes to an accelerating national movement of equitable, artist-led community development through finding solutions to arts-related space needs.

Get consulting services

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Preserve

Artspace ensures that its spaces remain accessible to artists and their families.

Find your next home

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Consulting in Colorado

Your ideas. Our expertise. Let’s join forces and find a solution to your creative space needs.

Artspace Consulting is dedicated to helping communities advance the arts through space-related strategies.

We help find solutions to your art-related space needs using the real estate skills and expertise we’ve developed over the past 30 years. How it comes together depends on your needs, challenges, and vision of your community. We are happy to answer questions you may have about our process, and tell you more about how we approach our development work.

Have a Big Idea?

y Are you searching for a live/work space in your community that caters to artists and cultural organizations?

y Is your arts or cultural organization in need of a new space for operations?

y Do you need expert assistance in solving your space-related challenges?

y Are you organizing a conference, workshop, or gathering and looking for support from Artspace?

Guiding your community ideas wherever we’re needed.

Artspace Consulting works with cities, towns, counties, arts organizations & more to make arts-related space dreams a reality. Tell us about your dream.

Get Started

Tap the button above, or visit artspace.org/contact-us

Artspace Consulting’s impact in Colorado:

y Arvada

y Aurora

y Carbondale

y Denver

y Elizabeth

y Fort Collins

y Fraser

y Grand Junction

y Ignacio

y Lakewood

y Longmont

y Louisville

y Paonia

y Pueblo

y Salida

y Telluride

y Westminster

y Wheat Ridge

Contacts for Colorado projects

Dana Mattice

Director, National Advancement dana.mattice@artspace.org

Wendy Holmes Senior Vice President, Consulting wendy.holmes@artspace.org

Andrew Michaelson

Director, Property Development andrew.michaelson@artspace.org

Lucas Koski

Director, Property Development Lucas.koski@artspace.og

Will Law Chief Operations Officer will.law@artspace.org

America’s Leading Nonprofit Real Estate Developer for the Arts

Artspace is a nonprofit organization that uses the tools of real estate development to create affordable, appropriate places where artists can live and work. We consistently develop these projects in ways that also support more stable, healthy communities anchored in existing assets. Because Artspace owns each of the projects it develops, we are able to ensure that they remain affordable and accessible to artists. Over the last four decades, Artspace has led an accelerating national movement of artist-led community transformation. While embracing the value the arts bring to individual lives, Artspace has championed the once-radical idea that artists living with financial hardship and chronically underfunded arts organizations can leverage fundamental social change. With headquarters in Minneapolis and offices in New York, and Washington D.C., Artspace is America’s leading developer of arts facilities and has served as a consultant to hundreds of communities and arts organizations nationwide. www.artspace.org

Colorado has surfaced as a dynamic state for Artspace activity, as many of its towns and cities are teeming with creative workers and energy, while experiencing housing and workspace shortages. Built on a long history serving as a consultant there, Artspace opened its first Colorado project in 2015, the Artspace Loveland Arts Campus, which illustrated how the creative sector could help fill the void left by departed industries and drive community and economic development.

Loveland inspired the Space to Create Colorado (S2C) program, and Artspace has since completed the S2C demonstration project, Trinidad Space to Create, as well as Ridgway Space to Create A series of additional S2C projects will follow across the state, including in Carbondale, Grand Junction, Grand Lake, and Salida. Artspace is also addressing needs in Colorado’s urban cores and is planning for Artspace Colorado Springs as a separate effort from S2C, to hold space in the Colorado Springs Creative District for creatives at risk of displacement. Artspace’s work across Colorado is creating the sustainable, physical infrastructure of homes and workplaces for the creative class, providing life-changing support for individuals who go on to have transformational impacts on their communities.

About Space to Create Colorado

Space to Create Colorado is the first state-driven initiative for affordable housing for creative sector workers in the nation. The state’s mission is to develop affordable housing and workspace, including commercial, for creative industries and artisans and ultimately position Colorado as the nation’s leader in creatively led community transformation in rural communities. S2C is facilitating the development of a series of projects in Colorado’s rural, small town, and mountain communities across the state. This effort is led by the Colorado Office of Economic Development’s Colorado Creative Industries, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the Boettcher Foundation, Gates Family Foundation, Artspace, and History Colorado.

Space to Create Colorado Partners

These projects are made possible in partnership with Artspace and multiple state agencies and private sector collaborators, including the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), Colorado Creative Industries, History Colorado, DOLA Housing, DOLA Local Government, Boettcher Foundation and Gates Family

1. Loveland Arts Campus, Phase 1: Loveland Lofts

2. Trinidad Space to Create

3. Ridgway Space to Create

Construction

1. Loveland Arts Campus, Phase 2: Artspace Feed & Grain*

4. Artspace Colorado Springs

5. Grand Lake Space to Create

6. Salida Space to Create

7. Carbondale Space to Create In Feasibility Stage

8. Grand Junction Space to Create *

Foundation.

* The developers are Downtown Grand Junction and Headwaters Housing Partners.

2014-15

Artspace acquires a neighboring vacant lot in downtown Loveland, builds new property on the lot.

Feb. 11, 2016

2021-23

Ridgway Space to Create construction completed in 2022 with grand opening celebration on June 22, 2023.

September 2022

2023-25

Artspace Colorado Springs Construction completion by 2025.

2023-26

Carbondale Space to Create predevelopment phase. Construction completion expected in 2026.

2015

Inspired by Artspace’s work in Loveland as a replicable model, the state-led Space to Create Colorado (S2C) program is created. chosen for the S2C demonstration project. Artspace breaks ground on Trinidad Space to Create June 11, 2018.

2016-18

2022

contracts Artspace to conduct Feasibility and Arts Market Studies.

2022-24

Artspace to complete Phase II of the Artspace Loveland Arts Campus by adaptively reusing the Feed & Grain. Under construction and plans to open in 2024.

2023-26

Salida Space to Crearte in predevelopment phase. Construction completion expected in 2026.

2024-25

Grand Lake Space to Create to start construction 2024 and open 2025.

Artspace Loveland Lofts

Grand Opening of Trinidad Space to Create

Loveland Arts Campus

Artspace is redeveloping the iconic Feed & Grain into an arts-centric, mixed-use property to complete the Artspace Loveland Arts Campus — the inspiration for the Space to Create Colorado program.

Responding to community calls, Artspace acquired the Feed & Grain and a neighboring, vacant lot in 2014. Artspace newly constructed the Artspace Loveland Lofts on the lot, providing 30 live/work units and gallery space, with a Grand Opening occurring in 2016. Artspace also conducted an initial scope of work to stabilize the old mill, with the intent to redevelop it as Phase II of the project. It is one of Loveland’s most historic structures and represents the town’s first major industry.

There is a long history across the U.S. of artists and other creatives reclaiming abandoned industrial spaces as spaces to create. Redeveloping the Feed & Grain so that it is codecompliant, on the tax roll, and filled with a creative community

will both preserve a local, 120-year-old landmark while helping to imagine the future of the Loveland community as a continued hub for the creative inspirations of Northern Colorado.

When completed, the Feed & Grain will provide nine units of live/work housing for creatives and their families; along with 6,000 square feet of sustainable commercial space for artists.

When added to the units available at the Lofts, the entire campus will provide 39 live/workspaces total, increasing livability for all Loveland residents by providing housing that ranges from 30% to 120% Area Median Income. This is a rare and expansive spread across the livability spectrum; paired with professionallevel commercial space. The completed Artspace Loveland Arts Campus will bookend substantial improvements that have been made in downtown Loveland in recent years, fulfilling the community’s vision to expand economic opportunities and arts access while ensuring that Loveland remains a model for artist-led community development in Colorado.

Loveland Arts Campus

Artspace Loveland Lofts est. 2015 Artspace Feed & Grain under construction & coming in 2024

Feed & Grain Project Details

y Owner/Developer: Artspace

y Architect: Ratio (Denver)

y Contractor: Spectrum General Contractors (Denver)

y Type of Development: Adaptive reuse as mixed-use arts space

y Number and Type of Units: Creation of nine live/work units including studios and one- and two-bedrooms

y Affordability: 60–120% AMI

y Community Space: 6,000 sq. ft.

y Estimated Project Cost: $12M

y Estimated Timeline (Artspace Feed & Grain): 2022–24

y Project Funders to Date: Linda Aranow, ArtPlace Fund of Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, Boettcher Foundation, Colorado State Historic Fund, El Pomar Foundation, Erion Foundation, Gates Family Foundation, Hach Family Fund, Linda & Tom Lignon, Loveland Community Fund of Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, Teresa & Paul Mueller, NEA, Suzanne & Andy Peterson, Jan & Mel Schockner, and Earl & Lis Sethre

Trinidad Space to Create

Located in Southeast Colorado, Trinidad Space to Create is the demonstration project for Space to Create Colorado, a state-led initiative to create affordable creative sector and workforce housing and workspace in rural Colorado communities.

Trinidad is known for its funky character and annual ArtoCade art car event, and the community is devoted to downtown revival efforts. Artspace transformed the entire 200 block of Trinidad’s downtown Main Street into a dynamic complex that combined three historic structures with distinct exteriors, linking the second stories of all three with 13 affordable, live/work apartments. Street-level amenities feature a “dirty” maker-space and the city’s own cultural facility. Six blocks away, next to a historic train depot and across from a park, Artspace constructed a brand new building with 28 more units of affordable live/work apartments. This building, just one block off of Main Street, boasts views of the mountains and Purgatory River to provide plenty of inspiration to its residents. Trinidad Space to Create is informing the series of statewide S2C projects that will follow.

Trinidad Space to Create

Completed in 2020

Project Details

y Development Partner: City of Trinidad

y Architect: HHL Architects

y Total Project Cost: $18M

y Number of Units: 41

y Community Space: 20,000 sq. ft.

y Funders: Boettcher Foundation, City of Trinidad, Colorado Housing Finance Authority, Colorado

Department of Local Affairs, El Pomar, Gates Family Foundation, History Colorado

Ridgway Space to Create

Ridgway Space to Create is the first project (following the demonstration project in Trinidad) selected for Space to Create Colorado; and is also the first affordable housing project in Ouray County. Located in Southwest Colorado at the foothills of the San Juan Mountains, more than one in 10 people identify as artists in this town of just over 1,000 people.

The Ridgway Space to Create new construction, completed in 2022, provides 30 one- and two-bedroom units of low-income workforce housing, as well as 2,000 square feet of community space, in the Town of Ridgway’s downtown core and certified Creative District.

This new construction project aligns with the town’s clear

goals for affordable housing production, Main Street economic development, and added density and volume; while leveraging the Creative District and the Ramp Up Ridgway project with the Colorado Department of Transportation, which paved downtown Ridgway streets for the first time. A grand opening celebration took place on June 22, 2023 and community engagement is currently ongoing to plan for a public art component on the building.

The Decker Community Room is dedicated to Ridgway resident Dr. Peter Randolph Decker (1934—2020), who owned the land that Ridgway Space to Create is being built on, was a true “Renaissance Man”: A rancher; history and public policy educator; former staff assistant to Senator Robert Kennedy; former Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture; and author of several books.

Ridgway Space to Create

Completed in 2022

Project Details

y Owner/Developer: Artspace

y Architect: HHL Architects

y General Contractor: Stryker and Company (Montrose)

y Partners: Town of Ridgway, Colorado Creative Industries (CCI), Department of Local Affairs (DOLA)

y Type of Development: New construction

y Number and Type of Units: 30 live/work units including six two-bedroom units and 24 one-bedroom units

y Affordability: 30–80% AMI

y Commercial Space: 2,000 sq. ft.

y Project Cost: $10M

y Project Funders to Date: Boettcher Foundation, Debbie Jessup & Tim Schultz, Enterprise Community Partners, Gates Family Foundation, Ridgway Creative District, State of Colorado’s DOLA and CCI agencies, Telluride Foundation, Town of Ridgway, and the Western Colorado Community Foundation: Dave and Mary Wood Fund

Photo of local community members at the Rigdway Space to Create celebration and block party. Photo by Artspace, June 2022.

Colorado Springs

Artspace Colorado Springs grew out of a grassroots effort led by the Colorado Springs Downtown Development Authority (DDA). A mixed-use, five-story building located in the Creative District downtown, it will seamlessly link new construction with a historic element to create one cohesive, 48,000 square foot building.

The majority will be new construction built to the standards of 2020 Enterprise Green Communities, with photo-voltaic capacity and EV-ready parking spaces. It will also preserve an important piece of local history, retaining the Spanish-style 1928 portion of the former headquarters for the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado (2002—11), which was then gifted to Rocky Mountain PBS and named in honor of prominent LGBTQ businessman and philanthropist Tim Gill. For nearly two decades the building hosted thousands of community members for workshops, meetings, and receptions, and became a beloved space where all felt welcomed and safe—values and a legacy that Artspace will continue.

To designate Artspace Colorado Springs as a destination for the arts, public art components will include murals situated on the building’s exterior vertical spaces and sculptural components along the right-of-way adjacent to Wahsatch. The exterior design will reflect the level of artistic activity occurring within the 51 units of multifamily affordable housing and approximately 10 commercial studios and space for an anchor tenant. A rooftop deck will provide stunning views of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. All the units are one- or twobedrooms, addressing studies that showcased a need to attract graduating students and young artists, thereby retaining the next generation of creative workers. Through a concentration of residential units and commercial space that prioritizes the creative workforce, Artspace Colorado Springs will plant a flag for the creative community—and the District at large— that this is a safe and forever-home for the creative sector.

Photo: HHL Architects

Colorado Springs

Under construction, coming in 2024

Project Details

y Owner/Developer: Artspace

y Architect: HHL

y Partners: Colorado Springs Downtown Development Authority (DDA)

y Type of Development: Combination of new construction & adaptive reuse

y Number and Type of Units: 51 live/work including 40 one- and 11 two-bedrooms

y Affordability: 60% AMI

y Commercial Space: 7,500 sq. ft.

y Estimated Project Cost: $28M

y Estimated Timeline: 2023–25

y Project Funders: American Rescue Act, Bee Vradenburg Foundation, Betsy and Vance Brown, Colorado Springs Health Foundation, Community Revitalization Fund, Connie Schmidt, El Pomar, EM & FE Everett Charitable Trust, Foundation of the Heart, GE Johnson Foundation, H Chase Stone Trust, John & Margot Lane Foundation, John D. & Karla S. Balk, Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation, Kirkpatrick Family Fund, Nard Claar, Olive Real Estate Group, Pikes Peak Community Foundation: Kahala Fund, Pikes Peak Community Foundation: Carma Fund, Pikes Peak Community Foundation: Patrick Faricy Family Fund, Pikes Peak Community Foundation: Ronald & Judith A. Palmer Fund, Pikes Peak Community Foundation: Staff Fund, Pikes Peak Community Foundation: Strub Heer Fund, Susan Edmondson, The Richard Petritz Foundation, Tiemens Foundation, Vance and Betsy Brown – Brown Legacy Fund of Foundation of the Heart, Weidner Apartment Homes

Photo: HHL Architects

Grand Lake Space to Create

Grand Lake, located in the Northern Mountains Region, is the third Colorado community to participate in the state-led Space to Create Colorado initiative, following the Trinidad demonstration project and Ridgway.

This idyllic mountain town has long been an arts-friendly community, but seasonal cultural workers annually migrate when their hospitality/resort housing closes in the offseason. A group of civic leaders, calling themselves the Colorful Creatives, joined forces in their vision to expand the town’s year-round creative economy; and Grand Lake has since achieved formal designation as a Creative District, and joined the Space to Create Colorado program.

Artspace will construct Grand Lake Space to Create on the East End of downtown to provide a year-round, sustainable, and affordable home to the community’s creative class. Nestled within a visually stunning atmosphere, the building’s residents will be just blocks away from the scenic shores of Grand Lake (the

headwaters of the Colorado River), as well as a short drive from Rocky Mountain National Park—both places abundant with artistic inspiration. The completed project will include approximately 18 units of live/workspace, as well as a gallery, commercial, or community space on the ground floor. This investment in the year-round retention of the creative workforce is projected to have a catalytic effect on economic stimulation in the town.

Benefits of Modular Manufacturing

Grand Lake Space to Create will be the first Artspace development to utilize modular manufacturing, with the majority created off site. This method minimizes waste, like pallets and shrink wrap, as well as the impact on the environment from continual vehicular traffic and on-site equipment. Decreased on-site construction time also reduces the impact on neighbors dealing with traffic, parking, and construction dust.

Photo: MA Studios

Grand Lake Space to Create

In predevelopment and coming in 2025

Project Details

y Owner/Developer: Artspace

y Partner: Town of Grand Lake

y Architect: MA Studios (Granby)

y General Contractor: M.W. Golden Constructors (Castle Rock)

y Type of Development: New construction via modular manufacturing

y Number of Units: 18

y Affordability: 60–80% AMI

y Community Space: Three to four studios or retail spaces

y Estimated Project Cost: $7,725,000

y Estimated Timeline: 2024–25

y Project Funders: The Boettcher Foundation, Gates Family Foundation, Colorado Creative Industries (CC) Community Revitalization Fund, Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) DOH Transformational Workforce Funds

Photos: MA Studios

Carbondale Space to Create

Carbondale Space to Create is the fourth Space to Create community in Colorado! We are thrilled to bring this new project to Carbondale and look forward to working with the community to make it a success.

Artspace Projects, America’s leading nonprofit developer for affordable spaces for artists and creative workers, based in Minneapolis, MN, approaches development in a unique and collaborative manner. We look forward to working with the Town of Carbondale and our long-standing community partners Carbondale Creative District and Carbondale Arts. The Town Center site will include a mixture of uses for multiple organizations along with affordable workforce housing. Thunder River Theater located on the site and other arts and community partners are all possible site partners.

Recent Artspace developments through the Space to Create program in Colorado include Ridgway and Trinidad. Outside of

the Space to Create Program we have 58 projects in operation around the country. Artspace has a long history of creating high-quality, sustainable, and affordable housing for artists and creative individuals. This new project in Carbondale is no different, as it will provide residents with the necessary resources and support to pursue their creative passions.

Artspace’s work in Carbondale began in 2017 with a feasibility study process which included tours, focus groups, public meetings. It was followed by an in-depth Arts Market Survey in 2018 on the needs of creatives in Carbondale. 79% of the 342 survey respondents indicated a need for some kind of creative space (live/work housing, private studio space, and/ or shared creative space). Artspace was committed to seeing a project happen for Carbondale’s thriving creative sector and continued to stay engaged with the Town and Carbondale Arts and are thrilled five years later to make this a real possibility.

Carbondale Space to Create

In predevelopment and coming in 2026

Project Details

y Owner/Developer: Artspace

y Partners: Carbondale Arts, Carbondale Creative District, Town of Carbondale

y Funders: Boettcher Foundation, Gates Family Foundation

Salida Space to Create

Follow Your Heart to Salida: The Fifth Space to Create Community

Salida Space to Create is a unique affordable housing partnership between Artspace Projects Inc., Space to Create Colorado, the City of Salida, and the Salida Creative District. The aim of the project is to provide affordable housing options for artists and creatives in the Salida area, who struggle to find affordable housing in the area.

Located in South Central Colorado, Salida is perhaps best known for its mild climate and year-round recreation. Visitors flock to the “banana belt” region for whitewater rafting, fishing, hiking the 14ers, hot springs, mountain biking, and nearby snow skiing at Monarch. This Colorado crossroads city located on the Arkansas River sees upwards of 300,000 annual visitors who head there for the many outdoor offerings and then discover that creativity abounds.

It is very apparent to any outsider that Salida is strongly defined around the arts and its National Historic District with more than 300 intact historic buildings from the turn of the last

century. Salida’s creative sector is not hidden nor mysterious or underground. Salida shouts creativity and independent businesses as much as it shouts its other natural attributes. Each town in the Space to Create program has different community goals and needs that they hope to address through an affordable live/work and creative commercial space project. With a growing creative sector and a thriving downtown commercial district, Salida is facing increasing affordability issues for both housing and commercial spaces. The time is right to address space needs in Salida and ensure there is affordable space dedicated to the creative workforce, who have made Salida the destination it is today. According to the Salida Chamber of Commerce, “Salida owes its vibrancy as an artsy tourist destination to a small community of artists who settled here in the 1990s following the decline of the railroad and mining industries. As the economic downturn drove away retailers, artists transformed empty storefronts into spacious art studios and galleries.”

Salida Space to Create

In predevelopment and coming in 2026

Project Details

y Owner/Developer: Artspace

y Funders and Community Partners: Space to Create Colorado, Colorado Creative Industries, Colorado Department of Local Affairs, Boettcher Foundation, History Colorado, City of Salida, Salida Creative District