Westminster residents urge city to preserve Rose Center Theater’s nonprofit operations as council seeks new operator

The Westminster City Council on June 24 heard sustained public comment urging the city to preserve the nonprofit operatorship of the Rose Center Theater even as staff moves forward with a request-for-proposals process to identify an operator for the theater and the venue’s ballroom and banquet spaces.

Speakers at the meeting’s public-comment period framed the debate as one between preserving a community arts resource and remedying broader facility problems. “The Rose Center Theater is more than a building. It’s a place where cultures meet, young people grow, artists create and family and Westminster community comes alive,” said Eric Dwayne, who said he and his wife regularly perform at the theater and asked the council to continue working with Friends of the Rose Center Theater while addressing ballroom underuse.

The city released an RFP in April. Theater DNA, a consultant engaged by the city, told the council that four proposals were received: three proposers offered combined theater-and-banquet operations and one offered single-venue management. Theater DNA and staff warned that the facility is not turnkey; they identified maintenance and capital needs (roofing, flooring and shared lobbies/restrooms) that raise financial and operational questions for potential operators.

At the council dais, Arts Commissioner Alex Vos urged a hybrid approach: preserve the theater’s cultural mission while activating the ballroom with expanded rentals and sponsorships. “We can achieve both,” Vos said, asking the city to preserve institutional knowledge and community relationships while pursuing new revenue strategies. Michael Verenia, a local commenter, said he was alarmed at the prospect of replacing volunteer-led management and told the council, “I smell a rat” in plans that would displace the longtime nonprofit operator.

City staff recommended several business models for the council to consider: a professional venue-management company (management-fee plus profit share), a local/nonprofit operator, or separate operators for the theater and the ballroom. Theater DNA cautioned that large, single operators tend to prioritize profitability, which may favor private rentals over community access; local, nonprofit operators tend to prioritize local programming but may have limited capacity to invest capital.

After discussion, the council voted to continue interviews and negotiations with the proposers; council set a clear preference for a single operator (scored more highly in the RFP) but rejected moving forward with a management-fee model that would have the city pay a management company to operate the venue. Mayor Win said staff should proceed through the interview stage and return with recommended agreements and negotiated terms. The vote to continue the procurement and maintain the single-operator preference passed, 4–1.

The council and staff acknowledged a likely need for capital investment in the facility. Staff said earlier estimates identify end-of-life and deferred-maintenance items totaling roughly $2.8 million, with the roof repair alone estimated at just over $1 million; those numbers will be part of negotiations and agreements with any chosen operator.

What’s next: staff will interview proposers, negotiate terms that reflect council priorities (community access, cultural diversity, financial sustainability), and return with recommended agreements for council consideration. The city emphasized that the RFP process remains open to modification and that rejecting all proposals and reissuing an RFP remains an option if no proposer meets the council’s conditions.