Things are different in the depths of the Aggie Theatre.

Late last month, behind the iconic Fort Collins music venue's stage and down a set of stairs, fresh paint was being rolled onto the walls of its cozy green room, where musicians relax and get ready before shows.

Dani Grant's voice drifted out of the downstairs doorway and up the steps as she and business partner Cheryl Liguori ran through the finer details of the room's ongoing face-lift.

By then, the pair had owned the business for 25 days but had already managed to squeeze in a fair amount of changes between the venue's already-scheduled shows. And they're looking to clean it up further — in more ways than one.

"We're by-the-book Barbies," Grant said later, perched on a stool next to Liguori at the venue's bar while crews fiddled with changes on its nearby stage. "We like it done right. We like it clean. We like it to be staffed well. We don't like overserving."

Earlier this year, Liguori, the CEO of Boulder's Z2 Entertainment, and Grant, who owns and operates The Mishawaka with her husband, Matt Hoeven, formed a new partnership, Fort Collins Entertainment.

On March 1, they officially bought the 650-capacity venue from its previous owners, who also own and operate Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver. Grant now runs The Aggie's day-to-day operations, and Z2 Entertainment will book the venue.

Before Cervantes' owners purchased the business in 2015, longtime owner Scoo Leary was at its helm. Leary still owns the Aggie's building, and Fort Collins Entertainment is now leasing it with an option to purchase later.

Built in 1906, the Aggie has been a range of businesses over the decades, from a furniture store to a movie theater.

"If my husband saw 'Herbie and the Love Bug' here, it's been around for a looong time," Grant laughed.

Since transitioning into a music venue in 1995, the Aggie has built up a long and storied rock history — with a less-than-savory reputation to match.

Over the years, the venue seemed to be a magnet for trouble, from scuffles with security to underage drinking. After multiple citations for serving minors, a contentious chain-link fence was added around the venue's bar to keep underage concert-goers out. The "cage," as it was known, has since been removed.

"It was always a fun place to go see a show, but I can tell you none of my friends would come here anymore, you know?" Grant said. "And that'll change."

Scott Morrill, one of Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom's owners, said the ownership group felt they were doing a good job operating and bringing talent to the venue since purchasing it from Leary in 2015. But because he and his partners were based in Denver, "we could not give it the personal attention it really needed to thrive."

No other buyers were considered when they decided to sell, Morrill said.

"(Cheryl and Dani) were the right people for the job," he added.

Since purchasing the business, Grant and Liguori have renovated the venue's green room, updated parts of its sound system, installed a new lighting rig and refinished its wood floors.

The duo is shooting to have all of their planned improvements made in time for FoCoMX. The venue will host two days of music at the annual showcase on Friday and Saturday.

Related:FoCoMX: What's new, what to know ahead of Fort Collins' annual music showcase

Aside from the green room and lighting improvements, the changes are small but mighty, Grant said.

"It's little stuff," Grant said, referring to gum being scraped off from under the bar and new, uniform pendant lights being installed above it.

"You won't necessarily be the kind of person who's like, 'Oh, those are new pendants!'" Grant added. "You'll just be like, 'Oh, this feels nice.'"

'Bad outcomes'

Grant and Liguori made their purchase of the business contingent on a fire sprinkler system being installed by the previous owners, which happened just before the sale.

"That, for us, was a deal breaker," Liguori said, adding that while the sale was in the works for most of 2018, "that was the holdup."

The Aggie, known for its legal dust-ups, also topped Poudre Fire Authority's list of Fort Collins' most dangerous structures every year since PFA started publishing its annual risk assessment report in 2014.

"We've been working with them for over 10 years to bring the building into compliance and add a sprinkler system," said PFA Fire Marshal Bob Poncelow.

When considering a potential fire, the building's age — about 113 years years old — its handful of exits and its combination of large crowds and alcohol were concerning factors, PFA assessment records showed.

In 2016, a fire at the Ghost Ship, an artist collective in Oakland, California, killed 36 people during a concert, highlighting the need for buildings like it to comply with fire department standards.

On Dec. 27, 1986, Fort Collins experienced its own bar fire when a patron ignited a Christmas tree garland as part of a $5 bet at The People's Bar, 934 S. Lemay Ave. Two men — 32-year-old Alden Klein and 51-year-old Donald Kirk — died in the blaze.

"The combination of loud music, alcohol and lots of people can lead to bad outcomes when a fire breaks out," Poncelow said.

The addition of the sprinkler system, however, should effectively slash the venue's potential risk nearly in half, said Ron Simms, PFA's planning and analysis chief.

Fort Collins Entertainment has also upgraded the building's exit hardware, Poncelow said.

"They've been very responsive to anything we've asked for," he added.

Grant says she and Liguori have focused their efforts on three key areas when revamping the Aggie: band experience, patron experience and technical ability.

"Those three things kind of guided all the changes we wanted to make initially," Grant said. "And we don't have a gajillion dollars, so we have to be careful about it."

While the Aggie's most recent owner had big dreams of a rooftop bar and stage, Grant and Liguori say they're taking a more conservative approach — especially in their first year.

They'll be focusing, instead, on the smaller building changes and the venue's music programming.

"You can't just pigeonhole (yourself) into a genre and expect it to be full every night," Grant said. "We have to service the entire community of listeners. We need to do some earlier shows for an older (demographic). We need to do some kids programming."

They'd also like to open up the Aggie for more special events.

'Good bones'

Neither Grant nor Liguori is a stranger to older music venues.

Liguori's Z2 Entertainment oversees two of Boulder's biggest and most historic music venues: Boulder Theater and the Fox Theatre.

"I have two old buildings and it's constant, constant love," Liguori said.

The Fox Theatre was built in 1926 and Boulder Theater was constructed in 1906, the same year as the Aggie.

And the Mishawaka, Northern Colorado's legendary riverside venue, dates back to 1916, when Fort Collins music teacher Hunter Thompson homesteaded the land up the Poudre Canyon.

After Grant and her husband purchased it in 2010, the Mishawaka underwent tremendous change, transforming from an aging venue riddled with legal and safety issues to a well-oiled operation that's now safe for Mother's Day brunch.

Is your house a fixer upper, too, I asked?

"It was!" Grant said with a laugh. "Good bones. I like good bones."

And is it worth it? All this work?

"Absolutely," Liguori said.

The Aggie’s FoCoMX lineup

FRIDAY

My Dog Ate Chad: 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

Holdfast: 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

My Body Sings Electric: 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

The Velveteers: 8:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.

Stella Luce: 9:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m.

Hyzenborg: 10:20 p.m. to 10:50 p.m.

izcalli: 11 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.

Slow Caves: 12 a.m. to 1 a.m.

SATURDAY

Last Call Romance: 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

Green Dream: 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

One Flew West: 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

Post Paradise: 8:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m.

Kind Dub: 9:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m.

f-ether: 10:15 p.m. to 10:35 p.m.

Roka Hueka: 10:45 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

f-ether: 11:30 p.m. to 11:50 p.m.

The Burroughs: 12 a.m. to 1 a.m.

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