The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today!
You already know Santa Fe Drive for its diverse range of art galleries along the blocks south of downtown, which brim with people on the first Friday of every month. But the neighborhood has also evolved into a vibrant hub for the music industry, as The Denver Post reports. Five years ago, KGNU-AM radio opened a station at the Denver Open Media building, and when rock promoter Chuck Morris left Live Nation to establish a Denver-based branch of AEG Live, he was encouraged by friend and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to check out the Santa Fe Arts District.
“Every week that we’ve been here, a new building down here gets purchased or redone,” Morris says. “Now, you have condos getting built and architects moving in. It’s a mile from downtown, where property prices are four times as much, and half my business is right around here. It’s a wonderful place.” Red Light Management—the company behind big-name acts like Phish, the Dave Matthews Band, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw—has also opened an office in the area, which hosts agents and employees for other well-known bands, such as Dinosaur Jr. and Big Head Todd & the Monsters.