CREJ - Journal

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MARCH 2015 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 95
A Rubik’s Cube
of complex design
and engineering
feats packages
big building in
small site for
DIA’s new
Westin Hotel
and Transit
Center
“W hy on earth would
anyone want to build
a senior-living com-
munity downtown?”
Michael Schonbrun
heard that question a
lot when he began putting together a plan
for a new retirement community in down-
town Denver. But Schonbrun, the CEO and
founder of Balfour Senior Living, knewwhat
he was doing. His company operates a com-
prehensive senior-living community near
Boulder, and he wanted to offer something
different.
“I picked the site because it provided close
proximity to the greatest amenities of the
city – the Center for Performing Arts, the
Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Con-
temporary Art – and it’s adjacent to a beauti-
ful city park that’s actively used by people of
all ages,” says Schonbrun.
He says today’s seniors don’t want to have
to choose between natural beauty and city
skylines. He wanted to give them both.
Balfour at Riverfront Park is the result of
his own search for a retirement home for
his mother. A native New Yorker with dis-
criminating tastes, Madeline Schonbrun
wanted it all: a luxurious home in an urban
setting, fabulously appointed, within walk-
ing distance of myriad cultural activities
and culinary options.
Surprisingly, her son found few that
would measure up to her standards. So he
set out to create a new model of senior liv-
ing for a new generation of seniors. The re-
sult is the community that now graces the
corner of 15th Street and Little Raven Ave-
nue in downtown Denver.
Beginning the project just prior to the
Great Recession, it suffered a few starts and
stops. Due to budget constraints and con-
cerns of neighbors, the building had to be
pushed back and re-envisioned to fit a
WORDS: Jill Ladwig