AURORA | Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan used his annual State of the City speech Wednesday, May 11, to say it’s time for Aurora to get serious about building a performing and cultural arts center.
Hogan said he is calling on city council to craft a “public-private” partnership to build the facility and said it should also include Class A office space, something city officials have said Aurora lacks.
“It’s past time that a city of over 350,000 people had both Class A office space and a performing and cultural arts center,” he said.
Other metro area cities — including several much smaller than Aurora — already have such facilities, he said.
“We should not have to go to Denver, or Arvada, or Parker, or Lone Tree or even one of our own high school gymnasiums to get more than 250 people together to enjoy the arts in Aurora,” he said.
Wednesday’s speech appeared to be Hogan’s first public call for such a facility and he didn’t mention where he would like to see it built or how much it could cost.
The speech, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Aurora, was the first given at the new Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Center near the Anschutz Medical Campus.
Hogan said hotels like the Hyatt — as well as the Gaylord Rockies hotel and conference center, set for a Thanksgiving 2018 opening — are the sort of marquee developments changing the face of the city.
“This hotel is a prime example of that lofty goal,” he said.
Hogan noted several recent projects in Aurora that he says are shaping the city for the better, including the Stanley Marketplace, which is scheduled to open Labor Day, and the light rail line along Interstate 225, set for a late 2016 opening.
Rick Crandall, president of the Colorado Freedom Memorial and the master of ceremonies at Wednesday’s speech, said during a question-and-answer session with Hogan that the perception of Aurora has changed in recent years.
“You sit at the grown-up table now,” he said.
Hogan agreed, and said whether it’s debates at the state Capitol about construction defects legislation or regional development projects, Aurora’s voice increasingly carries more weight than it once did.
“We are at the forefront on a whole variety of issues and it has brought Aurora to a more prominent place,” he said.