What was once the home of two of Colorado’s longest-running daily newspapers could soon become a central location for the state’s ski resort and outdoor companies, city and state leaders said Thursday.
Alterra Mountain Co. is moving its headquarters to Upper Downtown after considering leaving Colorado for Salt Lake City. That possibility compelled city and state officials to give the company millions of dollars in incentives to stay in Denver, Mayor Mike Johnston and Gov. Jared Polis announced.
The ski resort company behind the Ikon Pass is set to move from the River North Art District into the city-owned building once home to the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News at 101 W. Colfax Ave., across the street from the historic Civic Center Park.
Officials hope to turn the area into an outdoor recreation hub and attract similar companies to follow with state grant money set up to build the hub.
A ticker that once posted Denver Post headlines outside the building may soon be used for live snow reports, Johnston said.
Alterra will rent up to two floors of the building spanning 65,000 square feet, Johnston said at a news conference inside the building.
Lisa Lumley, the city’s director of real estate, said the company will take about a year to construct its office and workers may arrive in 2027.
The lease will run for 12 years.
Even though the city owns the building and gave incentives to keep the company, Johnston said the rent is “comparable” to other nearby offices.
Johnston celebrated the move of a major company such as Alterra as a big win for Upper Downtown.
He added that while some may see it as a loss for the RiNo neighborhood, it is better to have the company stay in Denver than leave the state altogether.
The company was attracted to the proximity to Civic Center Park, which is undergoing a major renovation project and hosted the Outside Days festival, the mayor said.
He also said the location would allow the company to potentially have outdoor recreation activities connected to the park and joked about having future half-pipes at the city’s landmark.
Alterra Mountain Co. Chief Customer Officer and Ikon Pass President David Flueck lauded the state for its mountains and outdoor lifestyle that he said make it a great place to live, work and play.
He did not answer questions from the media or give more details about the relocation.
“We are thrilled to have our headquarters relocate down to this iconic building and explore ideas of maybe a half-pipe or a ski run that has made Ruby Hills so special and bring it downtown,” Fleuck said.
Downtown Denver has struggled with high office vacancies since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the former Post building was not immune.
The Central Business District had a 44% vacancy rate during the second quarter of 2026, according to a report from commercial real estate firm CBRE.
Denver bought the building for $88.5 million in 2024 and later fell into a dispute with the owners of the Post, who failed to pay rent beginning in August 2025.
The city and the Post came to an agreement, under which DP Media Network LLC had to pay $13.5 million and the city would take off the “Denver Post” signage. Denver would also be allowed to lease out several floors and a parking area.
When Alterra started scouting for new locations, Johnston said it was important to team up with the state to keep it in town.
Alterra, which has thousands of employees and owns Steamboat, Winter Park, Arapahoe Basin and many other ski resorts, got millions in both city and state incentives.
It became the first company to win money under Mayor Johnston’s new Open Denver program through the Denver Downtown Development Authority. The $40 million program is designed to attract companies to the city’s urban core and is part of a wider $100 million city investment to boost job growth amid a slower economy.
The ski resort company was awarded $7 million by the Denver Downtown Development Authority to move its headquarters to Upper Downtown to cover upgrade, relocation and build-out costs.
In July, the Colorado Economic Development Commission also awarded nearly $4 million in grants and job-creation tax rebates in an unconventional emergency meeting to keep the major ski resort company in the state.
The commission approved nearly $2 million in job growth tax incentives to spur 106 new jobs over eight years with an average salary of $131,000.
The company also received a $1 million loan with no interest from the state and another $1 million for grants up to $250,000 to “support individual company recruitment projects at that location and in the area,” said Sean Gould, the state’s economic deputy director, when the awards were given out.
The grants were part of a “one-time strategic supplemental inflow to the strategic fund” from the office’s “discretionary state refinanced ARPA dollars,” federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act awarded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnston also hinted the DDDA money could be used to attract other outdoor companies to the building.
The news comes as Alterra has been going through several major changes this year.
While state officials hope the relocation would add jobs over time, the ski resort company cut an unspecified number of jobs last month and reports point to a slowing outdoor economy as one of the primary reasons for the layoffs.
The company also doesn’t have a traditional CEO after its former CEO, Jared Smith, announced he would step down at the end of the ski season.
The company’s board created a temporary executive committee to lead the company with representatives from Alterra’s ownership groups KSL Capital Partners and Henry Crown & Co. until it finds the right candidate.
When asked about the layoffs, Polis said the state would not be on the hook if those jobs aren’t added but is optimistic Alterra will cash in the state job growth credits.
“We all are rooting for and celebrating the success of Alterra. We hope that they succeed in growing and expanding and succeeding,” Polis said. “But of course, the state only pays for the jobs that are actually created.”
