Background
The Alliance Center, historically known as the Kennicott-Patterson Transfer and Storage Company Building and later as the Otero Building was constructed in 1908 to serve as a warehouse along Wynkoop Street’s “Warehouse Row.” For over half a century, the building served as a warehouse for various Colorado-based companies, including the Tattered Cover Bookstore, a Denver institution, as well as the first official offices of the Wynkoop Brewing Company, owned by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper.
In 2004, the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado (now the Alliance for Collective Action) purchased the building and quickly began transforming it into an environmental nonprofit hub. The vision was to create a physical hub where local public interest groups could pool resources for projects. It would provide an incubator for collaboration, offering traditionally tight-budgeted nonprofits an opportunity to share ideas with like-minded advocacy groups and reduce expenses.
The Project
In 2014, NTCIC financed the federal Historic Tax Credits generated by the second major renovation of the Alliance Center building. These efforts effectively gutted the building to replace an aging and inefficient heating and cooling system, enhance the aesthetics, provide a more cohesive and efficient space, and provide an ideal working environment that maximizes the principles of sustainability. Key parts of the rehabilitation include increasing natural light, improving mechanical systems and controls, incorporating urban wind turbines and photo voltaic arrays to generate energy, using only water-efficient bathroom features, installing a heat-island-reducing roof surface, and improving their Energy Star rating. Additionally, the construction efforts allowed the building to be powered solely via electricity.
Today, the Alliance Center is home to nearly 40 impactful organizations, most of which focus on climate resiliency, equity, and advocacy efforts to push Colorado and the United States toward a greener future.
Learn more about the Alliance Center
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
For the first year of The Alliance’s ownership, the building underwent significant construction to renovate and upgrade the space, prioritizing eco-friendly green building construction with high-tech concepts. In 2006, The Alliance Center became the second building in the world to earn two US Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications.
The Alliance Center has been carbon neutral since 2008 and, according to Energy Star, uses less energy than 92% of its peers. Through a thoughtful waste management approach, the building diverts 85% of its waste from landfills, recycles over 4,500 pounds of hard-to-recycle materials annually through its “Hard to Recycle Station,” and has saved over 550 megawatts of energy through its renewable energy components.
The building achieved a LEED Gold recertification in 2011 and was the first building in Colorado to obtain Platinum certification in any of LEED’s newest and more stringent v4 categories. The Alliance Center has since achieved dozens of building certifications and awards, including the WELL-Health Safety Rating and seven LEED certifications.
In 2014, the Alliance Center completed its second renovation using Historic Tax Credit financing provided by NTCIC. This renovation effectively gutted the building to further increase energy efficiency, power the entire building solely through electricity, protect occupant wellness, and inspire further collaboration.
COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Alliance serves as the connective tissue for social and environmental movements in Colorado. Over the last two decades, The Alliance has built a network of government, academic, for-profit, nonprofit, media, and community organizations and leaders. The Alliance convenes and mobilizes this network to identify some of the largest problems Coloradans face and move thought into action through community-led solutions. To support their cohort of tenants, the Alliance Center provides over $400,000 in tenant savings via below-market rent and event costs.
The Alliance Center supports more than 160 organizations through tenancy and events each year. The convening groups support environmental-focused advocacy efforts throughout the year and have played roles in directing over $1 billion in state and national stimulus funds to green efforts.