The Historic Stanley Hotel will soon be opening up a new venue on its campus, and The Pavilion will be an intimate spot for public events, weddings and corporate meetings.
“The Pavilion is part of our continued investment in creating year-round business in Estes Park. The Stanley concert series, Stanley Live, has drawn over 3,220 concert attendees in January of this year alone,” said John Cullen, owner of the Stanley. “The Pavilion will take us to the next level by allowing us to accommodate the rigorous demands of high-tech corporate clients. Having the infrastructure to attract this new type of high-tech client means that the Stanley and Estes Park will see a significant spike in weekday business, even during what has traditionally been the off-season.”
There are three main spaces in the new building, with two large banquet spaces and a 300-seat amphitheater. Reed Rowley, Vice President of Grand Heritage Hotel Group, said that the construction on the venue started in 2015, but the concept has been in the works for about five years.
“[The Pavilion] came about because the Stanley Hotel had reached this critical mass of popularity and we weren’t able to keep up with demand,” Rowley said. “Weddings and corporations increasingly needed their own high-end space. Somewhere private and exclusive, where they could feel the energy of the bustling campus, but still have an intimate space for themselves.”
The Stanley also hopes to use the Pavilion as an additional venue for its rapidly growing concert series Stanley Live, which hosted over 7 concerts in January alone, with plans to grow the series to 30 events in 2018
Hotel expansions started with the Aspire Residences, which will soon have $3.5 million spa on its ground floor, looking to open in June. Now The Pavilion is poised to open with its first public event as a two-night comedy show on April 19-20.
“Everything on this property is an evolution and we are always trying out different ideas to see what works,” Rowley said. “We realized as we began construction that The Pavilion had the ability to be more than a meeting space, it had the makings to be one of Colorado’s most high-tech and innovative meeting spaces.”
The Pavilion will also have something that no private business in Estes Park has.
“The Pavilion is the first private business in Estes Park to have a 1-gigabyte circuit allowing it to accommodate high-definition broadcasting and simulcasts, ideal for high-end meetings and symposiums,” Rowley said. “This technology, combined with the distinctive design, will build on existing venues and pave the way for the next generation of live-streamed entertainment, product launches and TED type speakers.”
When looking at the Pavilion, it looks like it might have always been a part of the Stanley campus. The building reflects F.O. Stanley’s original architectural style, while incorporating cutting edge steel, glass and technology. The interior ballrooms connect the theme of the campus by replicating exactly the crown molding and all the accents of the music room in the main hotel.
He said all the buildings on the Stanley campus have the same style, but there are some modern upgrades, like the bamboo floors, or the huge glass door that opens onto a pond in the Amphitheater.
The backdrop of the 300-seat amphitheater is a solid glass wall, which weighs 11,000 pounds, is able to open during shows, weather permitting, and guests will get fresh mountain air during events.
The original budget was around $4 million, but has since risen to $10 million. Rowley said that as they realized what could be done with the space and they felt to do justice to the area it needed to be world class.
