Colorado Real Estate Journal - Octover 7, 2015
Downtown Colorado Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing Colorado's downtown districts, has recognized the Lafayette Commons project with its Governor’s Award for Downtown Excellence in the category of Best Adaptive Reuse or Rehabilitation, using the tool of a City Urban Renewal Authority. The Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority partnered with Chernoff Boulder Properties to reconstruct the historic façade on the Lafayette Commons building located at the southeast corner of Simpson Street and Iowa Avenue. The site was home to the Lafayette Bank, established by Lafayette’s founding mother and likely the first female bank president of the time, Mary Miller. The bank portion of the site burned in 1922, but the adjacent storefront remained. Through the years, the building was home to a library, the Rocky Mountain Fuel Store (a company store for miners), a dance hall, and county administrative offices. Lafayette Commons is now the site of 22 boutique office suites. Chernoff Boulder Properties rehabilitated the building’s exterior, removing aging siding, rebuilding the structure behind the siding, replacing the exterior with period-size lapboard siding on the majority of the building and reinstalling historically accurate corbels on the north elevation. On the western portion of the building, limestone block replaced the wooden siding to match historic pictures of the building. “Lafayette Commons is sure to remain a keystone project as further development of the area continues under the direction and contribution of the urban renewal authority. It has set the scene for many more good things to come. The building has an amazing history, and it continues with this Governor’s Award for Excellence,” LURA Chair Sally Martin said.