Su Teatro purchases new Denver building to create cultural space for generations to come
A year after paying their mortgage off, Su Teatro Denver's 52-year-old theater is now expanding its cultural footprint with the purchase of a new building just right across the street from the theater on Santa Fe Drive.
Theater leaders came together to raise funds to purchase the $1.8 million building, and thanks to support from community foundations including the Colorado creative industries and the Morris Family, it became a reality.
It's a decades-long tradition for leaders of Su Teatro to celebrate the acquisition of a new building with a prayer and a blessing party.
The purchase of this new building is important for leaders and the community, as the area is being gentrified, this is one space that will allow the Chicano organization to continue to grow and serve the community.
Driving down Santa Fe Arts District, it is no secret the neighborhood is being transformed. Gentrification has transformed the city as developers have made it a space for new apartment complexes. The purchase of this space is marking a significant milestone for the organization.
"The memory of our community and our families and what they all did here is being taken away," said Tony Garcia, artistic director for Su Teatro.
Leaders of the decades-old Chicano theater are leaving their mark with the purchase of the new building 659 Santa Fe Dr.
"It was always our intention once we moved in here to become part of the footprint of this community," said Garcia.
In 2010 the 52-year-old Chicano theater, Su Teatro moved into the Santa Fe Arts District, it is a place where the history and experience of Chicanos are told through art, music and plays.
For artistic director Tony Garcia, the purchase of the blue building on Santa Fe Dr. means they get to stay.
"This is a space that will not be taken away, we're not renters, we're not moving our way through here, we are owners and this is honoring the tradition of our ancestors by respecting this space and presenting it to the next generation," said Garcia.
It's a building with up to nine rooms and even an outside patio. It is a cultural space that will be used for rehearsals and other youth programs.
"The idea was always that we would create a campus, we knew that we were outgrowing our space, we knew that we could not continue how we were," said Garcia.
It also gives leaders a chance to grow the organization by finding new forms of revenue, which includes renting out the theater.
"To do collaborations with other companies and other organizations that are producing, so it should increase our revenues." Said Garcia.
According to Garcia, the family who owned the building, the Morris family cut the price tag down by hundreds of thousands of dollars, they were inspired by the theater being preserved as an education arts institute for generations to come.
"This is to me a reminder that our people have been here for a very long time and saying we are going to be here for multiple generations to come," said Garcia.
Su Teatro hopes to buy another building, located at 930 West Seventh Avenue, right next to their current purchase. According to Garcia, Sherman Agencies have negotiated a three-year, $2.9 million purchase option agreement with Su Teatro and the Morris family for the 10,000-square-foot space.
