Few steam plants have ever looked so good — which is why some swanky, new lofts in an old industrial building that once heated Lowry Air Force base are fetching more than $1 million.
Redevelopers of the steam plant, in what is now one of Denver’s most expensive neighborhoods, have put the finishing touches on four steel rooftop stacks that have helped the project lure top dollar. Without those stacks, the building, now called Steam Plant Lofts, would have lost much of its “industrial charm,” said loft architect and co-owner Jim Hartman.
“People will pay for that kind of uniqueness,” he said.
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Indeed. The four-story building opens in November, and 12 of its 14 units are sold.
Getting to this point wasn’t easy or cheap. The lofts’ developer, a company formed by Hartman and John Keith, president of Denver-based builder Harvard Communities, paid about $1 million to remove about 435 tons of steel from the plant, which closed in 1996.
At its peak, the plant generated 2.4 million pounds of steam daily to heat 35 buildings on the former base, Lowry officials said. Without boilers in the building to support them, the plant’s four steel stacks — each weighing 4 tons — were removed, reinforced and reinstalled.
Electricians have been working to mount rooftop lights that showcase what are now essentially “the building’s hood ornaments,” Hartman said. “It’s the closest we’re going to get to a topping-off ceremony.”
Each loft’s floor plan is customized according to its buyer’s wishes, a selling point only sweetened by the building’s proximity to neighborhood shops.
Several houses are under construction nearby, including a $2.2 million home that is the most expensive house in Lowry sold to date.