A building that once hosted grain-and-feed expositions, Shakespeare plays, boxing matches, and a young Jimi Hendrix is on track to reopen as a 4,000-seat music venue in downtown Colorado Springs. The renamed CityAud, housed inside the 1923 structure at 221 E. Kiowa St., is aiming for a first-quarter 2027 debut after an extensive remodel that has stripped the building down to its bones and rebuilt it for touring concerts, Broadway shows and more.
The project is being led by promoter Jesse Morreale, whose company was selected by the City of Colorado Springs in June 2025 as the auditorium's new managing operator, according to KRDO. As reported by Westword, Morreale has a personal history with the building: he grew up in Colorado Springs, attended nearby Palmer High School, and saw Mötley Crüe perform at what was then called the Municipal Auditorium when he was just thirteen years old.
Morreale told Westword that the project appeals to his background in historic preservation, and the numbers behind the deal explain why the city was willing to hand over the keys. The agreement structures an initial five-year lease with four optional five-year renewals, and it requires Morreale's company to fund all capital improvements, modernization, and deferred maintenance without taxpayer money, while the city retains ownership of the property, according to CelebrityAccess.
A Century of Grain Expos, Ballets and Rock Legends
The building's roots run deep. Completed in 1923 at a construction cost of $424,910, the auditorium was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1995, per Wikipedia. Local architects Thomas MacLaren, Charles E. Thomas and Thompson D. Hetherington designed the Classical Revival hall, which still bears the Latin inscription “USUI CIVIUM DECORI URBIS” — “For the use of the people and the glory of the city” — above the main stage.
Long before it became a concert destination, the venue hosted ballets, Shakespeare plays, grain-and-feed expositions and boxing matches, according to Westword. Its musical legacy runs just as deep: Jimi Hendrix and Ozzy Osbourne both played the Municipal Auditorium, and over the decades the hall welcomed Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, Tina Turner, Widespread Panic, Willie Nelson and ZZ Top, per the same CelebrityAccess account. Morreale himself has booked Creed, Foo Fighters, White Zombie, Weezer, A Perfect Circle and Tool in Colorado Springs over the years.
From Stalled $60 Million Plan to Isolation Shelter
The building's path to this renovation wasn't straightforward. A $60 million revitalization plan proposed by the nonprofit Community Cultural Collective in 2021 and 2022 stalled out, leaving the auditorium closed and vacant for nearly two years, KRDO reported at the time. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the closed building was even repurposed by municipal authorities as an isolation and recovery shelter for unhoused residents.
More recently, the renovation has connected with the community in a more literal way: in July, project operators began selling the auditorium's original 1923 wooden seats to the public as collector items to help fund ongoing preservation work, according to KRDO, as floor space is cleared for flexible modern seating.
What the New CityAud Will Look Like
Once finished, CityAud will offer a room sized between 3,500 and 5,000 capacity, according to Westword, with a basketball-court-size open floor that can be configured for general admission or reserved seating. The main stage measures 68 by 50 feet with a fly system suspended 60 feet overhead, and the venue includes four levels of dressing rooms, artist lounges and production offices, plus VIP boxes, a mezzanine and a balcony.
A separate 230-seat theater with its own entrance and artist facilities will operate alongside the main arena, and phase one of the broader renovation focuses on modernizing front-of-house spaces in both rooms, adding new concession areas and building a permanent restaurant, according to Pollstar News. New loading, storage, and technical systems are also part of the build-out, which is currently in its final phases of front-of-house, arena, and base-building construction, per Westword. Between the two rooms, the venue is expected to accommodate rock, country, comedy, sports and theater bookings, including touring Broadway productions and arena-sized concert setups.
A Promoter With Colorado Roots and a Statewide Bet
Morreale's résumé stretches back to 1991, when he started promoting concerts as a student at the University of Colorado at Denver. He went on to work with Nobody in Particular Presents, Fey Concerts, Universal Concerts, and promoter Barry Fey; he did shows at Red Rocks, built the Marquee Theater in Phoenix, and developed the Denver Botanic Gardens concert series, according to Westword.
Morreale is already discussing events with agents and managers, and the venue reportedly has many holds on its 2027 calendar, with some of the first shows expected to be announced before the new year, per the same report. He said he expects CityAud to benefit not just Colorado Springs but the entire state of Colorado, positioning the venue to serve both Colorado Springs and communities in south Denver as El Paso County — now larger than Denver County, with Colorado Springs standing as the 40th-most populous city in the United States — continues to grow at a rapid pace.
Once CityAud opens, it will represent the culmination of a process the City of Colorado Springs kicked off in June 2025 when it tapped AVA Presents to revive the hall, as per Hoodline. Beyond concerts, Morreale has also opened restaurants and bars, including 9th Avenue West, La Rumba, and Mezcal, and the auditorium project is expected to offer in-house booking as well as events booked by other promoters, giving Colorado Springs a venue built for both national tours and homegrown programming.
