ASPEN —The Aspen City Council on Tuesday directed Wheeler Opera House executive director Gram Slaton to proceed with plans for $2.9 million worth of balcony and technology improvements.
The project likely will be approved this fall through the city’s 2013 capital-improvements budget process. Money from the opera house’s real estate transfer tax fund will cover the expense if all goes according to plan.
During a work session in June, Slaton told the council that the project was sorely needed for a variety of reasons, chiefly the lack of legroom for Wheeler patrons in the balcony section and the facility’s outdated technology for film screenings. He expounded on those reasons on Tuesday, armed with a feasiblity study from Quinn-Evans Architects, of Washington, D.C., and Ann Arbor, Mich. The firm specializes in historic-preservation projects and theaters.
The facility’s technology booth, in the balcony, is out of sync with the character of the rest of the building, Slaton said: “It sits there like an alien UFO.”
Read more about plans for the Wheeler Opera House
