The Pulse | March 2024

BKV’s Office-to-Housing Expertise Exemplified with Landmark Towers

The?Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal (MSPBJ)?debuted an article highlighting the office-to-apartment conversion market hitting an all-time high nationally, with nearly three out of every five future conversions being former offices. One of the most high-profile, in-progress conversions showcased in the piece is the?BKV Group?and?Sherman Associates?collaboration that will convert the Landmark Office Towers in St. Paul into 187 multifamily apartments. This article focuses on an area of expertise that BKV has successfully carried out for clients across the country for over 20 years –?whether for former office, warehouse, factory, or hotel buildings. For more on our conversion expertise, click either link below.

Article:?https://lnkd.in/gzTndMYA

BKV Office-to Housing Expertise:?https://lnkd.in/gVnB6wVu

BKV’s One Thousand One Development Named to Philadelphia Business Journal’s Top Project List

Since establishing our Washington, DC practice site in 2010, we've had over a decade working in the surrounding region, especially in the City of Brotherly Love. It's why we're proud to see the BKV-designed One Thousand One development make?Philadelphia Business Journal's "24 Projects to Watch in '24" list. We’re continuously inspired by Philadelphia’s rich history to contribute what will be one of the largest mixed-use communities in the country at the corner of Broad & Washington. With the 630-unit first phase expected to deliver by the end of 2024 (with the entire development completed by 2026), plans for One Thousand One call for 1,457 apartments built in three phases with more than 185,000 square feet of amenity space for residents.?

Read more about One Thousand One and the latest going on in Philly here (login required): https://lnkd.in/d9U_cuhb

Design Makes a Difference: Artspace Silver Spring

In a series of blogs called "Third Place"?that takes a closer look at the winners of Montgomery Planning’s 2023 Design Excellence Awards, the outlet examines the County's drive for more mixed-use, transit-oriented development with integrated affordable housing in alignment with The Montgomery 2050 goals. Exemplifying these goals, as highlighted in the post, is the 2023 winner of the?Montgomery Design Excellence Award for Exceptional Housing?– Artspace Arts Campus in Silver Spring, Maryland. For this community,?BKV Group?took a 2-acre, auto-centric 1962 police station and surrounding asphalt parking lots and converted them into a new arts community that frames streets and public spaces, and establishes a wonderful transition between downtown Silver Spring at Fenton Street and the smaller-scale residential neighborhood.?

Read "Design Makes a Difference: Artspace Silver Spring" here:?https://lnkd.in/gvW2YdcV

Kaposia Library Opening

BKVers attended the Kaposia Library Grand Opening in South St. Paul, MN Tuesday, February 20th. This project is BKV's first new construction library in Minnesota in over 13 years, representing the talents of architecture, interiors, mechanical, electrical, and structural disciplines. Over 600 residents attended the opening, alongside the mayor, a senator, and a state representative. BKV was overjoyed to take part in the grand opening of the Kaposia Library in South St. Paul which is being touted as?Dakota County's most accessible and inclusive library. At 16,000 square feet, the Kaposia Library offers more than the former library by housing over 40,000 titles (including Braille) in addition to their children's space doubling in size, plus incorporating interactive learning areas, a dedicated teen space, and even outdoor reading spaces. In addition to being extremely energy-efficient, the recently opened library is creating huge impacts on the broader community.?

Click here to view photos of the new library's grand opening, and stay tuned for professional photography come March: https://lnkd.in/gdA8TCkM

Mike Krych Addresses Affordability Concerns By Citing BKV’s Game-Changing Case Study

A late January?Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies?report revealed?"affordability conditions in the U.S. are the worst since records have been kept," with 22.4 million renter households being cost-burdened and the industry enduring significant year-over-year affordable housing shortfalls. Forbes?published a piece on this topic, interviewing?BKV Group's Senior Design Leader and Managing Partner,?Michael Krych, about how select developers are creating housing that is now "either entirely affordable or that includes a significant affordable component and is located within more coveted and prestigious neighborhoods." The primary case study cited which prioritizes affordability within a highly coveted parcel of land is the BKV-designed Upper Post Flats community in Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Upper Post provides workforce housing for veterans and their families and is located on an idealic site where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers come together.?

To read more about this transformative community and the design strategies and partnerships to allow more of these developments to get built, click here: https://lnkd.in/gq2SynQB

Progress Update at Chicago’s 3636 North Lake Shore Drive

Along Chicago's famed thoroughfare,?BKV Group?leads the design of two new buildings –?a 19-story tower encased in glass and metal paneling positioned alongside a shorter six-story residential building connected by a lobby space accessed from a cul-de-sac (shared with the existing New York Private Residences).?Overlooking a courtyard space, residents from both buildings will have access to amenity spaces on the ground floor surrounding the green space, with the buildings holding a combined 333 units. Just announced this month, a new construction and tower crane permit are both in the works for the residential development with the two buildings poised to fill the empty land along Lake Shore Drive at the intersection of N. Lake Shore Drive and W. Waveland Avenue.?

Read more here via?Urbanize Chicago: https://lnkd.in/gb4-6MXe

Embracing Flexibility in CTE Classroom Design at EDSpaces

BKV once again participated in the annual?EDspaces?Education Conference, with the focus being to develop a new classroom concept aimed at “Embracing Flexibility in CTE Classroom Design.” EDSpaces 2023 took place in North Carolina, and spearheading?BKV Group's involvement was Interior Designer,?Madeline Hilby, who collaborated on the design with?Molly Jacobs?(Integrus),?Anh Neustadter, RID, NCIDQ?(WRA Architects), and?David Leestma (Quinn Evans). With the assembled team gaining an understanding about how CTE is a learning pathway that integrates core academic knowledge with technical and occupational knowledge, they created a dynamic and flexible classroom layouts for core CTE programs.?

Read about how design can allow for the classroom to be reconfigured for as many different CTE uses as possible here:?https://lnkd.in/gs4TNWzv