Blue Ribbon Lofts
The Opportunity
The former Pabst Brewery Keg House was part of a large, largely vacant historic brewery complex. The opportunity was to preserve a distinctive industrial building while creating housing that could help establish a new neighborhood within the emerging Brewery district.
The Challenge
Adaptive reuse had to reconcile historic preservation, an obsolete industrial building, affordability requirements and a complex tax-credit capital stack — while proving residential demand in a district still early in its transformation.
The Approach
Use historic character as an asset rather than a constraint. The project paired 95 mixed-income loft apartments with live/work units and creative amenities, including artist workspaces, galleries, business and conference space, and a music and presentation space.
The Result
The 95-unit conversion of the former Keg House — 69 income-restricted apartments and 26 at market rate — became an early residential anchor in the redevelopment of the former Pabst complex.
Why It Matters
Redevelopment can be placemaking: preserving an important building, creating mixed-income housing, and using real estate to establish identity and momentum for an entirely new urban district.