Music-Centric Elizabeth Hotel Opens in Fort Collins

Since its founding in 2001, the Bohemian Foundation has built the Fort Collins music community through music programs, its annual Bohemian Nights music festival, the Music District and by supporting music venues the Armory and a completely revamped Washington’s, which celebrates its grand opening in February.

So it’s not surprising that Bohemian Companies, the for-profit sister company of the Bohemian Foundation, founded by Pat Stryker, has also collaborated with real estate development company McWhinney and Sage Hospitality on the music-centric Elizabeth Hotel, a 164-room boutique hotel that opened in December on the edge of Old Town Fort Collins, across the street from Bohemian’s headquarters.

The Elizabeth has two music venues: the Sunset Lounge, a rooftop cocktail bar that offers up live jazz a few nights a week; and Magic Rat Live Music, which brings in local and national acts Tuesdays through Sundays. And since each guest's room has its own turntable, there’s a vinyl lending library with thousands of albums as well as a musical instrument lending library of stringed instruments, keyboards and more available for guests to check out during their stay.


“Pat has a very strong fondness for not only live music, but for providing opportunities for kids for music in the Fort Collins area,” says 4240 Architecture’s T.J. Carvis, who helped design the hotel. “This is one of her joie de vivre ideas. She wanted to make sure that continued as she continued on with the development of the hotel.

“I think that this is something that was very near and dear to her heart, and something that she thought would be a good theme moving forward," Carvis continues. "I think all the partners on the project were very excited with the idea that the boutique hotel could have a theme to it, because it does start to inform the architectural language as well as just the decor of the interior.”

Peter Karpinski, co-founder of Sage Restaurant Group (which operates the two music venues and Emporium Kitchen + Wine Market), says Magic Rat’s name was inspired by the protagonist in Bruce Springsteen’s “Jungleland.” Some acts on tap in the near future include Porlolo, Ginny Mules, Matt Mahern, Alright Alright, Suzanne Santo of Honeyhoney, and the Last Revels.