Broadway Affordable Housing
Broadway Community Housing is a permanently affordable housing complex owned by Boulder Housing Partners (BHP). SSA was contracted to create a master plan, design, and guide the project through a complex entitlement process with the City of Boulder.
The redevelopment plan involved the rehabilitation of 6 existing buildings containing 44 residential units (Broadway East), and construction of a new 26-unit apartment building over a parking garage (Broadway West), a new 2-story Community Center. Beyond the creation of beautiful and comfortable, modern apartments, SSA’s design objectives included rejuvenating the site’s shared open space and providing indoor and outdoor gathering places for tenants of all ages.
The site plan organizes all residential buildings around a long Central Green with connector pathways and a number of active and passive site elements. The large number of children on this site means that the playground is a major feature of the green, as is the hardscaped plaza off of the centrally located Community Center that houses the I Have a Dream Foundation on-site program.
The new apartment building along Broadway buffers the majority of the site from traffic and noise, while the building’s east-facing plaza connects to the Central Green and unifies new and existing housing to create a vibrant, cohesive community.
Broadway East & Community Center
Broadway East occupies the eastern two-thirds of the Broadway Community Housing site and is comprised of 44 existing residential units divided among three apartment buildings and three townhouse buildings. These structures were built in the early 1980s, and were badly in need of restoration. SSA assisted Boulder Housing Partners (BHP) to evaluate the existing conditions of each individual apartment, townhouse and site. SSA prepared the Capital Needs Assessment, supporting design drawings, specifications and additional documentation for BHP’s tax credit application to CHFA.
Included in the scope was replacement of exterior finish materials, roofing, windows, raised concrete balconies, flooring, cabinets, plumbing fixtures, interior and exterior lighting, renovations to the Laundry Room, mail and trash kiosks, site landscaping and a new playground. Integrating energy efficient upgrades and promoting a healthy living environment were high priorities for BHP. The buildings were engineered to add new solar photo-voltaic panels through solar grants for low-income housing. Other energy-efficient and healthy features incorporated into this project include double-pane, Low-E windows, spray-urethane wall insulation, low-VOC paints and radon mitigation.
SSA worked closely with a local contractor to provide ongoing cost estimating services and ensure BHP’s budget would be met. During construction and rehabilitation, we provided Contract Administration and project observation for BHP leading to a project that was on-time and budget.
Broadway West
Broadway West is a mix of 26 permanently affordable 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments in 3 stories and sits above a 1-level below-grade parking garage. Each spacious apartment has private patio or balcony space that looks toward the foothills and or over common open space. Much effort was put into designing a residential structure with appropriate scale and character for the busy Broadway corridor. A wide entry plaza and canopy provide a defined break in the building mass, allowing visual transparency between the west and east sides of the building. Special attention was given to the corners of the building and additional details were included to create elevations of strong visual interest and pedestrian scale while reducing the building’s overall massing. Façades undulate in a rhythm of forms and colors, while third story walls step back further from the façade to further diminish building mass. Exterior materials include colored concrete block and 3 colors of stucco that relate to the existing, rehabilitated housing on the site. A raised outdoor courtyard on the East side of the building provides commercial gathering space for tenants and connects to the Central Green at Broadway East.
Integrating energy efficient upgrades and promoting a healthy living environment are high priorities for BHP. The building has integrated electrical infrastructure for future installation of solar photo-voltaic panels. Other energy-efficient and healthy features incorporated into this project include double-pane, Low-E windows, spray-in fiberglass wall insulation and low-VOC paints.
SSA provided Boulder Housing Partners (BHP) with design, specifications and documentation for their tax credit application to CHFA. SSA teamed in a design-build capacity with the contractor to provide ongoing cost estimating and value-engineering services. The project was completed one month ahead of schedule and under-budget (by 5.8%) in January 2010.