The reuse movement is happening across the country. In Seattle, architect Susan Jones, orchestrated a partial demolition of a 1980s office building to create a new home for the First Congregational Church of Seattle’s growing congregation. In Baltimore, sports clothing retailer Under Armour’s new facility is contained in a former Big-Box store reimagined as a corporate campus with the help of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. In Chicago, the former New York Life Insurance Building was rescued from demolition thanks to the efforts of Kimpton Hotels, who, as part of their effort to preserve historical structures reopened the building as the luxurious “The Gray.” In the case of the latter, it’s just more proof of a successful business model born from founder Bill Kimpton’s love of old buildings—not the hotel industry. “That is in our DNA of doing adaptive re-use, taking buildings that weren’t necessarily supposed to be hotels and converting them,” says Ron Vlasic, Regional Sr. VP.
Gensler and Kimpton worked closely with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s retrofit team, a city of Chicago entity directly aiding design and construction teams embarking on energy-efficient retrofits. The mayor’s office touts the project as an historic building that’s now just as efficient as a brand new building.
The trend is growing: in San Diego next year, the last part of a military barracks will be renovated into the Barracks Hotel as part of Liberty Station mixed-use development and public market.
