Curley School Wins Adaptive Reuse Award
Curley School Artisan Lofts recently received a merit award for Project of the Year: Adaptive Reuse from Multifamily Executive magazine. Originally built in 1919, the property was a vacant local landmark in Ajo, Ariz., that formerly served as a public school. Constructed in beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival style, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Following an $8.9 million rehabilitation, Curley School now offers 30 affordable live/work rental lofts for artists.
Located about 40 miles from the Mexico border, over one million cars drive through Ajo every year. Curley School was conceived as a mixed-use economic development project for the town – to capitalize on the existing interest that artists have in this desert area, increase the town’s economic base through sales of the artists work, and create destination tourism.
The development provides services to help residents develop their art into entrepreneurial home-based businesses. At the microenterprise business center, artists can learn business skills such as bookkeeping and web-based marketing, or take GED preparation classes. The exterior courtyard is a community gathering place as well as a venue for artists to showcase and sell their work. The school’s 4,500 seat auditorium is a performance space for Curley residents and for outside community performances.
In addition to preserving historic architecture, the development’s design adapted the former school’s classrooms and hallways into spacious loft apartments specially-tailored for artists and home business entrepreneurs. All units have 11 foot ceilings, large windows and significant natural light; many offer amazing views of the desert.
The developer, International Sonoran Desert Alliance (ISDA), operates programs in housing and economic development, cultural preservation and environmental conservation of the Sonoran Desert. ISDA programs are specifically designed to promote artist activities as well as share the tri-cultural heritage of the Anglo-Americans, Mexicans, and Native Americans (especially the Tohono O’odham Nation) who live in this desert community.
Enterprise provided $6.6 million in LIHTC equity for the Curley School development.
Read more about Curley School Artisan Lofts. |
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