ASPEN — After 15 years of operating in the downtown Butcher’s Block building, Aspen Expeditions is moving its headquarters out of town.

The longtime local business has partnered with Durrance Sports and will be moving to Aspen Highlands at the end of the month, said Aspen Expeditions owner Dick Jackson. The two businesses will occupy about 1,000 square feet at the base of Highlands.

The mountain guiding and worldwide adventure travel company also will share space with Durrance Sports, located at 414 E. Cooper Ave., for its summer operations.

The decision to move came when Jackson’s lease was about to expire and the rent was going to increase on the 1,000-square-foot upstairs space that’s most known for its sunny deck and being above the sandwich shop.

“Everything has its time,” Jackson said, adding he’ll miss the downtown spot where he can see the paragliding launch site atop Aspen Mountain from his deck. “It’s old Aspen.”

Jackson said he sees the move to Highlands and the partnership with Durrance as a synergistic transition to Aspen Expeditions’ relatively new business plan of becoming a worldwide adventure travel company.

“Where we’re at with our business it’s time,” he said. “We feel we can create the adventure side at Highlands.”

Aspen Expeditions’ Highlands location will serve as a the front door for backcountry trips with plenty of terrain off the ski area, as well as the Maroon Bells Wilderness Area just a few miles up the road for hiking, climbing and other extreme activities.

“There is no question that [the current location] in terms of the social aspect is tops but for the business, Highlands is a better location,” said Dirk Bockelmann, who handles marketing for Aspen Expeditions, adding that taking customers to the Pyramid Peak amphitheater will be a highlight of the company’s tours.

Besides being the base for backcountry touring, Durrance Sports and Aspen Expeditions will have an alpine touring demo center, a full tuning shop and a limited retail outlet at Highlands.

During the summer, Durrance Sports on the Cooper Avenue Mall will operate Aspen Paragliding, take in Aspen Expeditions walk-in business and expand its retail operation to offer more gear.

Three longtime locals — Steve Centofanti, Alex Rebiez and Brian Compagnone, who are all in their mid-30s — bought the majority of Durrance Sports from Dave Durrance last summer. Durrance, 61, has a minority interest in the company and is focusing on other interests.

“We started talking last April and we wanted to keep the family name,” Centofanti said, adding he and his two other partners grew up together in the Washington D.C. area and worked at the same ski shop.

Centofanti said he has known Bockelmann for a long time and the idea of combining the two businesses was born out of conversations in recent months.

“The ball just started rolling and it’s all kind of falling into place,” Centofanti said. “I think it will be a great relationship.”

Jackson, who has owned and operated Aspen Expeditions since 1976, said he changed the focus of the business to global adventure travel about a year and a half ago.

Most of Aspen Expeditions is now marketed online through an extensive database shared with several local outdoor operators. Through the consortium and loose partnerships, the “Adventure Collection” can offer just about any tour throughout the world, Jackson said.

“I’ve been in this business long enough that people know you do local stuff but they don’t know about the worldwide online booking,” Jackson said. “I’m really excited about the adventure travel side of this business.”

Aspen Expeditions will officially be out of its Spring Street location on April 30, although it will gradually move to the two new locations over the next few weeks. An “end of an era” party will take place at the current location April 13. A welcoming party will occur at Highlands on April 27, the last day of the extended ski season at the ski area.

“We should have moved in enough to throw a party,” Jackson said.

While he said he will miss the street on which he has operated the business for the past 18 years, Jackson said he won’t miss the parking hassles his customers face in town, since Highlands has plenty of it.

“Highlands is going to be a joy in that sense,” he said. “It makes a lot of sense to be at Highlands.”

csack@aspentimes.com