A man utilizes the pedestrian access while the Wheeler Opera House is under construction in downtown Aspen on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
The city of Aspen is forgiving nearly $200,000 in rent for two of its tenants that have been living under scaffolding at the Wheeler Opera House for months and therefore have not paid their landlord for nearly a year.
Aspen City Council agreed earlier this month to relieve Aspen Public House, a bar and restaurant, and Valley Fine Arts, an art gallery, from paying rent through at least June.
That’s when the scaffolding and the impacts of a nearly yearlong renovation of the historic building’s sandstone facade will be completed.
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The opening of the new Aspen City Hall has been delayed by at least a month due to COVID-19 issues, along with modest budget increases for the nearly $49 million project.
Aspen City Council heard during a work session Tuesday that the 37,500-square-foot building is scheduled to be fully open around Thanksgiving.
Schedule delays are related to the initial shutdown last March, as well as crew quarantines and limited manpower working within Pitkin County COVID public health order guidelines at 50% capacity, according to Rob Schober, the city’s capital asset project manager.
City staff has contained the financial implications of the delays within the project’s contingency fund and is working to minimize any further impacts moving forward, Schober said.
Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times file photo
The city of Aspen is forgiving over $73,000 in rent for two tenants in the municipally owned Wheeler Opera House due to construction impacts.
Aspen City Council on Tuesday during a work session agreed to the requests of the proprietors of Aspen Public House and Valley Fine Art for rent abatement for at least 10 months.
In July, council agreed to rent relief for both tenants for the remainder of 2020 due to the anticipated impacts of the masonry project on the Wheeler Opera House. The project, which has the entire downtown building encapsulated with scaffolding, was set to finish in the spring.