The Colorado Symphony will spend $120 million to renovate its nearly 50-year-old Boettcher Concert Hall, following approval from Denver City Council on a naming-rights deal that could raise $15 million of that total.
The naming rights revenue will shore up the overall budget for a project that’s slated to include upgraded acoustics, a new education center, and improvements to the lobby, restrooms and other parts of the building, according to the nonprofit symphony.
After the city council approved it last week, the symphony will pursue separate naming rights for the building’s external façade at the Denver Performing Arts Complex downtown, “along with additional naming opportunities, i.e. for the stage, seating, lobby, education center and other interior spaces,” officials wrote.
“It’s going to be a massive undertaking,” Daniel Wachter, CEO of the Colorado Symphony, told The Denver Post. “This cornerstone contribution is an important starting point, and the discussions we’ve had with Denver Arts & Venues and city council were very, very honest and encouraging. But at the end you need to have the votes.”
The Boettcher Concert Hall name, protected permanently under a previous city council resolution, will continue to represent the interior concert hall itself “and remain prominently displayed inside the building at all times,” officials said.
“The Boettcher Foundation earned those naming rights forever because it honors their legacy of going back to the 1970s and getting the hall built,” Wachter said of the . That organization last year handed out about $8 million to various projects and groups, .
Construction is expected to begin in June 2028 and finish in fall 2029, with funding also coming in part from the $950 million Vibrant Denver Bond program that voters passed on Nov. 4, 2025. The bond allocates $20 million for the project, which, along with naming rights, only covers the first $35 million.
The overwhelming majority — or $85 million — is flowing from Denver Arts & Venues, the city agency that owns and operates the performing arts complex, as well as other city funds and allocations, the symphony said. That even includes a $16.8 million surplus left over from a 2008 voter-approved bond.
The venue was built in 1978 as the first in-the-round U.S. concert hall for a symphony orchestra, officials said. But leaders of the symphony, which just announced its ambitious 2026-2027 artistic season at Boettcher, have in the 21st century debated whether to stick around for a renovation or move out of it — and possibly Denver overall — in favor of building its own new venue. And the debate has been acrimonious at times.
As recently as 2014, city officials had discussed plans to tear down Boettcher and potentially replace it with an amphitheater as the orchestra’s commitment to the venue wavered. But the symphony seized upon those plans to shore up support for keeping and renovating Boettcher, championing the hall anew.
This new deal locks in their spot in the city for the foreseeable future.
“A lot’s at stake because this (hall) is a treasure,” said Wachter, who moved from the symphony’s board to CEO in April 2025. “I’m aware of some of the history and tensions in the past, but we all have moved on and have taken a partnership approach. We’re only the tenant, but at the same time we’re programming this beautiful venue almost 365 days a year.”
Tryba Architects + LMN, in partnership with Paul Scarbrough from Akustiks, have been awarded the design and construction contracts.
The Colorado Symphony Association, as it’s formally known, performs more than 150 concerts each year and serves about 340,000 people through its shows at Boettcher, Red Rocks Park Amphitheatre, and other venues, according to the nonprofit.
