May 2016 — Retail Properties Quarterly —
Page 21
sive hangar was the perfect space
for indoor storage rental, we secured
a loan from First Bank and a $2 mil-
lion Denver Urban Renewal Author-
ity grant. In 2012, we converted the
nonhistoric loading dock into a beer
garden for further cash flow.”
Breaking New Ground
The project was designed to be
a dining destination with added
amenities for the neighborhood. Its
target market – 40-somethings with
one or two children, middle-aged
parents and empty nesters – wanted
to see a selection of nice restaurants
nearby, which was something that
was lacking in Lowry.
Today, the space houses five full-
service restaurants (including the
Lowry Beer Garden, Café Mercato,
Bubu, North County and Masterpiece
Kitchen), a Montessori school, two
fitness studios, coffee shop, beer gar-
den, community incubator offices,
recycling center and a storage facil-
ity.
Larimer Associates, an investor
in four of the restaurants, chose all
local, chef-driven dining venues to
offer the neighborhood a diversity of
high-quality options. To support this
mix of uses, a number of precedents
were established.
Stand-alone buildings vs. strip mall
retail.
While constructing generic
core-and-shell space offers greater
flexibility for retail and restaurant
uses, Hartman and Vostrejs chose
to develop intimate, purpose-built
buildings with outdoor patios
designed for restaurants only.
“The buildings at Hangar 2 were
purposely designed by Semple
Brown to be small, four-sided stand-
alone structures,” said Vostrejs. “I
cannot think of another retail proj-
ect where this has been done. We
approached our spaces as restaurant
developers not retail developers; we
wanted buildings with smaller foot-
prints for quiet, adult dining.”
Progressive design approach.
To cre-
ate a draw and ample mass needed
to become a center of community
activity, a number of thoughtful,
progressive design moves were
employed.
“The site’s food service was
designed to be small, local and
diverse – a collection of restaurants
curated to appeal specifically to
the Lowry community,” said Project
Architect Schmidt, who was on the
Lowry Design Review Board at the
time. “To establish a sense of wel-
come, the structures needed to ‘hold
the corner’ while providing visibility
into the site to draw people in.”
Designed with an industrial, mod-
ernist aesthetic and simple details,
the buildings’ cost-effective mate-
rials mirror the existing military
hangar and brick wings. Transpar-
ency into the restaurants and patios
activates the area and encourages
interaction.
“We wanted to avoid drawing
attention to the structures them-
selves as Hangar 2 is less about the
buildings and more about drawing
the inside out,” he said.
Nonoriginal, first-floor office win-
dows within the Hangar’s brick wing
buildings were transformed into new
retail storefronts. Awning-covered
entry doors activate public sidewalks
while providing a strong streetscape
connection between the historic
hangar and detached restaurant
buildings.
Inviting, cohesive environment.
The
project, in essence, was about mak-
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Views into the site and transparency into restaurants and patios activate the space and encourage interest and interaction.
