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Breckenridge Grand Vacations donates $500,000 for naming rights to new community center

Kelsey Fowler
kfowler@summitdaily.com
The owners of Breckenridge Grand Vacations donated $500,000 for the naming rights to the new community center. The Capital Campaign Committee is still seeking approximately $200,000 to reach its $2 million fund raising goal.
File Photo / Summit Daily news |

In bright red, size-200 font, the oversized check read: “To the People of Summit County” and “Five hundred thousand.”

Breckenridge Grand Vacations announced yesterday the company will contribute $500,000 toward the transformation of the historic schoolhouse on Harris Street into a community center and library.

The building, known as the “old CMC building” or “Harris Street project” will now officially be called “The Breckenridge Grand Vacations Community Center” with this donation. The building is scheduled to open in October 2014.



There are three major sources of funding for the estimated $8 million project: the town of Breckenridge; Summit County government; and a fundraising campaign for donations from private individuals, community businesses and grants, run by a capital campaign committee.

The committee’s goal is to raise $2 million, and with the new donation from Breckenridge Grand Vacations, it’s more than 70 percent there, said Leah Arnold, the committee coordinator.



“It’s very exciting,” she said. “We were really hoping someone would come forward and give our baby a name.”

Grand Vacations owners Mike and Rob Millisor and Mike Dudick presented the check to members of Breckenridge Town Council — including Mayor John Warner — the Heritage Alliance, Summit Board of County Commissioners and Summit County Libraries outside the old CMC building on Wednesday.

Thomas Davidson, Summit County commissioner, attended the event and said it’s always great to see a local company step up with an investment back into the community.

“Local government always appreciates these kinds of donations,” he said. “It affirms for us that we’ve got a really good project.”

The Breckenridge Grand Vacations Community Center is currently the largest historical restoration project in Colorado.

Dudick said the money will come from the Grand Lodge Vacations donor advisory fund. Dudick, a town council member, was the one to suggest using the old building for the new library branch.

“It was very serendipitous,” he said. “The town, we own the building, and we had to renovate it. The timing worked.”

The county is paying $2.7 million, and with the $2 million goal from the capital campaign committee, the town of Breckenridge will only end up paying about half of the total cost.

“It’s not just about the money,” Arnold said. “Our library, this building, is going to be awesome and we just want people to know about it.”

The town bought the landmark building, which was built in 1909 as a schoolhouse, from Colorado Mountain College in 2010. Most of the space in the Breckenridge Grand Vacations Community Center will be dedicated to a new library branch.

The renovated building will contain the expanded library as well as a 160-seat Speakeasy Movie Theater and nonprofit offices, including The Summit Foundation.

“We felt compelled to be a part of this project because it is our responsibility to give back to the community that has been so great to us,” Dudick said.

Donations of any size are still being accepted and naming rights are still available — from $250 for a seat in the new movie theater to $50,000 for a room in the library. For a minimum donation of $100 individuals can join the Founders’ Circle and will receive discounts on movie concessions and historical tours, as well as a commemorative tote and special edition library card. Visit http://www.BGVCenter.org for more information.


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