Vail Valley Foundation plans to breathe new life into The Amp with $20 million worth of improvements
Contemplated expansions would bring much-needed enhancements for staff, guests and artists
Tom Cohen/Courtesy photo
The Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater hosted its first-ever performance over 35 years ago in 1987. Since then, the venue has grown to more than double its capacity, hosting numerous festivals, community gatherings, events, graduations and concerts from April to October.
While The Amp has had five major capital project campaigns to keep up with this growth, the Vail Valley Foundation is contemplating ways to improve and grow the venue as it looks to the future.
“The type, caliber and volume of programming that is now happening in the venue has eclipsed the facility’s infrastructure,” said Mike Imhof, president and CEO of the Vail Valley Foundation.
Imhof presented the conceptual designs and renderings for the latest contemplated capital improvements at the Tuesday, Aug. 1 Vail Town Council meeting. While there is not yet a timeline set for the improvements, Imhof noted the projects would likely be phased without disrupting the venue’s summer schedule.
The capital improvements are meant to solve various challenges of the current venue.
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Listing these benefits, Imhof said there would be infrastructure improvements, economic benefits to the foundation and town, competitive advantages, better alignment with the “Vail brand,” and an improved experience for artists, staff and guests.
“Vail is a global, premium brand,” he said. “Currently, the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, with the experience that happens, is not up to the same par. We feel we need to upgrade it to get to a level that aligns with who you are, who we are, here in Vail.”
The improvements would add approximately 9,000 usable square feet to The Amp, Imhof reported.
These additions include a box office expansion and operational addition (including new restrooms) on the south side, a second level on the south concessions to improve current functions, a new north bar and multi-purpose studio near the Borgen Family Plaza (which Imhof called the “iconic part of the new capital improvements”); expansion of the east concessions, safety railings additions, new seating to replace the existing “subpar” seating; and a “critical” loading dock expansion.
As Imhof detailed some of the benefits of these improvements, he noted the competitiveness of live music, particularly in the state of Colorado. He said The Amp was up against venues and locations like Red Rocks, Mission Ballroom in Denver, the Dillon Amp, Telluride, Aspen and more.
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“In some ways, we think this is an opportunity as these venues attract more top artists, but we’re going to have to be able to differentiate ourselves,” Imhof said. “A lot of the improvements will be a competitive advantage for us.”
The opportunity for The Amp, he added, is encapsulated in the growing destination music market, which he cited as a $5.5 billion industry expected to grow close to $12 billion by 2032.
Not only would the contemplated improvements aim to improve operations for staff, which Imhof said were greatly needed, but they would also provide artists with more space for rehearsal and gathering as well as updated infrastructure so the venue has the capacity to rig for new types of artists.
All of the proposed changes will “create the opportunity for us to use this venue like it’s never been used before,” Imhof said, as it will enable it to “keep programming these larger, iconic artists” and become a “real focal point of high-quality music in the state of Colorado.”
All in, Imhof said the improvements at this very early stage are contemplated to cost around $20 million — adding that since 1989, the foundation itself has invested around $25 million in Amp improvements.
With this, the foundation is expected to kick off fundraising for the projects as well as return to Vail Town Council with a fundraising request. Imhof said currently, the foundation was expecting that request to the town to be around 20% of the total costs.
“We’re around 80 performances a year, I feel in the next two to three years, with these improvements we’ll be over 100 between April and October, which I think is a great thing for us, a great thing for Vail,” Imhof said.
“We feel strongly, second only to that mountain behind us, the Ford Amphitheater is probably the greatest asset in Vail.”
