Committee moves to advance 10-year concession plan for Pawhuska at Lookout Mountain Park

Shannon Denison, director of Denver Mountain Parks, asked the Parks, Arts and Culture Committee on Tuesday to advance council resolution 26 0 3 9 8, a proposed 10-year concession license for the Pawhuska historic concession building at Lookout Mountain Park.

Denison said the building dates to 1921, is in poor interior condition, and that the concession area has been closed since 2024 while the Buffalo Bill Museum has remained open. "The building is looking a little bit shabby and really needs a lot of investment and love," she said, outlining a procurement process that included an RFI published on 05/12/2025 and an RFP that closed on Nov. 24. She identified the successful bidder as Explore Pawhuska LLC (also described in the presentation as Exploraus) and said the vendor proposed a significant upfront investment to make the space operable.

Under the proposed terms Denison described, the agreement would run roughly from 2026 to 2036, include 9.5% of gross receipts to the city, a guaranteed annual minimum payment equal to 50% of the previous year's fees, and 2% of gross receipts earmarked for capital improvements (projected at about $330,000 every 10 years). She also said the vendor would make "a 1 time upfront investment of close to $400,000 for kitchen equipment and infrastructure, retail infrastructure, such as displays and inventory, and technology and operations." Denison said the concessionaire plans to occupy about one-third of the former footprint and to share program space with the Buffalo Bill Museum.

Council members asked how the city would manage oversight, cultural interpretation and potential changes to the site's framing. Councilwoman Paradis asked whether the city would reconsider the site's name and how engagement would proceed; Denison said name or site-level framing would require broader community outreach and is not part of the immediate contract. "That's something we're not quite ready to tackle yet," she said, adding that the department would review and approve any proposed changes to the building or branding.

Daryl Watson pressed on vendor performance risk and whether the city would shoulder costs if the vendor failed to meet investment targets; Denison said the city still expects to make longer-term capital investments and that the vendor contribution is intended to maintain the building until more substantial capital work can occur.

Denison emphasized that the planned interior work would not trigger a building permit because it primarily consists of repairs, and she said the concessionaire is in discussions with Takabe, a Denver-based American Indian eatery, to provide menu and cultural programming at the site. "They proposed to do that, and in exchange for making that upfront investment in the building, we recommended a 10 year term," she said.

After questions, the chair moved to advance the Pawhuska concessions resolution together with the bison transfer ordinance; the motion was seconded and the committee advanced the items with no objection. The committee also removed one item (2096) from the consent agenda for an additional briefing.

The committee action sends the concession agreement to full city council and the mayor's office for further review and contract approval; any future site-level renaming or larger transformations would require additional community outreach and subsequent approvals.