Thanks for joining us at the Armory open house on July 31st. Thank you for providing your feedback on the concept designs displayed in the survey named, The Armory Survey 2024. The survey has now concluded.
The Armory Reimagined: Respecting history, shaping the future.
As part of redeveloping Aspen's Armory Hall, city staff met with Aspen City Council on February 25, 2025, to present resolution to the previous work session held on January 13, 2024. Discussion topics included: Building Design/Façade Development, the Public Realm, timing of Land Use Reviews, and Land Use Review/Construction Timeline. Previously, city staff has metContinue reading
Thanks for joining us at the Armory open house on July 31st. Thank you for providing your feedback on the concept designs displayed in the survey named, The Armory Survey 2024. The survey has now concluded.
The Armory Reimagined: Respecting history, shaping the future.
As part of redeveloping Aspen's Armory Hall, city staff met with Aspen City Council on February 25, 2025, to present resolution to the previous work session held on January 13, 2024. Discussion topics included: Building Design/Façade Development, the Public Realm, timing of Land Use Reviews, and Land Use Review/Construction Timeline. Previously, city staff has met with Aspen City Council eleven times over the past two years.
This most recent City Council meeting was to memorialize Council's position on certain aspects of the design direction of Armory Hall and the preferred land use review and construction timeline. Council confirmed a preference for a June/July 2026 construction start date or as soon as possible.
A majority of Council want to see both the land use review and building permit application review process expedited. A land use review before the Historic Preservation Commission in April and City Council in May is anticipated.
City staff and consultants in the summer and fall of 2023 conducted a “test fit,” which is part of concept planning to determine how much square footage is necessary for different types of uses.
Concepts and floor plans were presented at an open house held at the Armory on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. Over 200 people gathered in the space, formerly known as City Hall, to review preliminary concepts, ask questions of the design team, and provide input.
The project’s current direction is based on extensive public outreach and community engagement, which included two online questionnaires, an open house, two focus group meetings and surveys. Staff heard overwhelmingly that the community needs a place to gather, that the Armory should be the heart of town, a community living room with the ability to eat, experience entertainment, shop or just hang out.
A design contract with CCY Architects was approved in March 2024. Based upon public engagement results, floor plans have been developed, consultations with regulators have occurred, and an initial operational budget based on the proposed programming is in place.
Public Engagement:
City Council remains committed to public involvement. Following the October 2023 open house showing some initial “test fit” of programming options within the building to see how much space is needed for different uses, additional outreach is planned as the design progresses. An open house at the Armory was held on Wednesday, July 31st, 2024.
Project Information:
The Armory sits on a 6,000 sq. ft. lot in Aspen’s downtown Commercial Core Historic District, adjacent to Conner Park. It is located within the Public zone district and is designated as a historic resource. The City has allocated money to plan the redesign of the project.
Next steps will be to determine funding options to undertake the remodel.
The City recognizes the importance of community use as an element of future programming and remodel options.
Past Outreach and Engagement:
In 2015, the city initiated an advisory ballot question to gauge the electorate’s preference for the Armory site as a future community use or city offices; the community use narrowly passed. Once again in 2018, the election cycle included a ballot question presenting two locations for a new city hall; the results confirmed a preference for the Rio Grande/Galena Plaza site with a 57 to 43 percent margin.
Looking to the past to shape the future
For many decades, the Armory served as Aspen’s City Hall, though many departments recently relocated to the new city hall facility at 427 Rio Grande Place. The facility currently houses the utility billing and IT departments. As the City of Aspen organization prepares for the next phase of the Armory’s history, we are engaged in community discussions about the future possibilities for the building’s programming use and remodel options, as well as the strategies necessary to achieve proposed goals.
Timeline:
July 31, 2024: Open House at the Armory
August 19, 2024: City Council Work Session for the team to present on design concepts.
January 13, 2025: Council Work Session to discuss key features of the draft land use application and to receive directions on several topics to enable finalization of the application.
February 25, 2025: City Council Meeting presenting resolution that identifies the high-level direction conveyed at the prior work session.
April 2025: Anticipated land use review before the Historic Preservation Commission.
May 2025: Anticipated land use review before City Council.
It is anticipated that construction will start in 2026.
6-05-23 WorkSession FollowUp Memo.docx (2.56 MB) (docx)
