DENVER — Renaissance Downtown Lofts, an apartment complex built to meet the needs of Denver’s homeless population that serves as a home to 100 residents, has been recognized as one of 19 finalists for Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) 2019 Global Awards for Excellence and is a PCBC Gold Nugget 2019 Award of Merit Winner.
Located at 2075 North Broadway in downtown Denver, the apartment complex was developed by Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and design/built by Prescient, a digital design-build company industrializing multi-unit housing construction. Prescient worked alongside both FCI Constructors and Denver-based Christopher Carvell Architects to complete the project.
The six-story apartment building, offering Denver’s homeless population a chance at stability, has social services for residents including mental health services, addiction treatment and job programs. The City of Denver estimates the Lofts will save $2.9 million per year by providing supportive housing and proactive services and avoiding incarceration and emergency hospitalization costs.
The building provides a visual feeling of security, yet with open arms to the city, easing what can be a crippling sense of isolation that can afflict homelessness. It also makes visible, through its strong architectural form and layered transparency – a community with dignity, thus diminishing society’s prejudice for ‘not in my backyard.’ Renaissance Downtown Lofts’ purpose is not immediately apparent based on its exterior. It looks like many of the other apartment complexes going up in downtown Denver – what appears to be the perfect spot for millennial renters, which is the difference in this project and what makes it unique and of special value not only to its residents, but to the City of Denver as well.
“This will act as a blueprint for other cities across the country that face similar challenges with homelessness,” said Denver’s Mayor Michael Hancock, referring to the project’s impact.
“We are thrilled that Renaissance Downtown Lofts has been recognized by both ULI and Gold Nugget, which offers global visibility for a project with such an important mission,” said Satyen Patel, executive chairman of Prescient. “The Lofts were designed with the idea to improve the local Denver community and we are confident the building will continue to boast a long-lasting impact for the people it houses. The Lofts are a perfect example of how the cost effectiveness of the Prescient solution and high quality of our buildings contribute to our vision of providing attainable housing for all. We are honored to be selected among other notable global projects for our work providing the highest standard of excellence in design and construction in the real estate industry and we look forward to working on similar projects in the future.”
Rendering courtesy of Frank Ooms, Ooms Inc.
