Historic Steam Plant to be Turned Into Lofts

The steam plant building is a unique building on the former military base, says Hilarie Portell, spokeswoman for the Lowry Redevelopment Authority. The four 20-foot tall smokestacks on the roof, where an addition will be added, will be retained. Indeed, they hope to incorporate much of the huge industrial equipment in the building into the project.

Also, the building's 2.3-acre site will include nine new patio homes. The patio homes, single-family homes with both ranch and two-story styles, will have open, floorplans, similar to those found in loft-style projects. The patio homes, ranging from 2,000 to 2,800 sf, will be in the $400,000 to the $500,000-plus range.

Each unit in the steam plant will have at least two sides of solid glass, and some will have three. High-tech energy-efficient glass will replace the broken windows, which stretch from floor to ceiling. Some units will have 17-foot-high ceilings. The ground-floor units will have massive courtyards at the entry, and the upper floors will have balconies ranging from about 200 sf to close to 500 sf.

The developers plan to incorporate as much of the old industrial equipment that now fills the building into the units as possible. For example, on one wall there is a 100-foot long, 15-foot deep coal bin.

"We're going to try to make a part of that coal bin the master suite in one unit," Keith tells GlobeSt.com. Hartman, however, tells GlobeSt.com that they can't keep all of the coal bin because it takes up too much volume.

They've already used several large valves to construct tables and chairs and tables for their sales center, which opens on March 13."We can do the same thing for buyers, if they want," Keith says." We certainly have enough equipment to work with.