The Atlas
The structure was originally constructed in 1974 as the teaching hospital for Creighton University. Unable to modify the structure to meet current standards, the University was faced with the possibility of a costly demolition. After a nation-wide search, NuStyle was selected as the firm to renovate the building into badly-needed student housing.
To create a multi-family project for such a large structure (the finished floor area was over a million square feet), it was determined that the six existing light courts would need to be extended down through the building another three floors. The existing administrative 7th floor, running only along the west face of the building, was left unaltered (structurally), and the mechanical penthouse on the roof was renovated as one of two tenant amenity areas. During the course of preliminary design, it was determined that there was enough height in the mechanical mezzanine to allow for another floor of apartments; at the same time another parking level was designed over the ground floor, bringing the interior parking count from 300 to 600, more in line with the parking needs for the final 732 apartment count.
While it was the vision of the design team that this rooftop amenity area would be free of condensing units, alas - there was just not enough roof-space to accommodate all of those mechanical units. The PoolPak for the rooftop pool was placed atop the renovated mechanical penthouse, along with as many condensers as made sense. The large pool, large community room, small cardio suite, and extensive rooftop-garden areas are well-used by the tenants.
A ground floor amenity area lets out to a site lake (for storm water retention). These include a maker’s space, half-court basketball, and a laid-back community/game room. Major amenities were also constructed on the south side of the first floor, adjacent to a major path allowing passage from the existing student housing to the west to a new pedestrian bridge (in partnership with the University) to the east. The gym-like cardio space, complete with group exercise room, looks over downtown; the pool is sized for lap-swimming as well as pool-play; a large community room provides a large variety of spaces; and a theater and a couple of study rooms round out these first floor amenities (all with a bit of a view onto the link to Creighton, intended as a bit of a marketing tool). The leasing office and a thriving bar/restaurant/quick shop occupy the north side of the front street face of the project.