Longmont mixed-use building named after community leader to be unveiled

LONGMONT — A three-story mixed-use building in downtown Longmont will be unveiled Friday with a public ribbon-cutting, followed by a dinner to raise funds for a mural to be painted on its side that will honor the community leader whose name the structure carries.

The three-story building includes six apartment residences with rooftop decks as well as dividable first-floor retail spaces.

The building’s name, Casa Lou Cardenas, pays tribute to longtime Longmont resident Eloyda “Lou” Cardenas, a Longmont woman who pushed for diversity, equity, and inclusion long before those ideas were present in mainstream conversations. Cardenas, who died in 2017 at age 99, built collaborations between the Hispanic and white populations in the city, inspiring developer Jennifer Peterson, president of JSY Properties, the parcel’s owner, to seek Cardenas’ family’s blessing to name the new mixed-use building after her.

Cardenas also was a fierce advocate for senior citizens who founded Longmont’s first senior center in 1971 and served on the board for the city’s senior center. She was also a board member for Meals on Wheels and played a large role in the establishment of Longmont’s bus transit services.

The builder, KCI Construction, under the direction of Peterson and architect Thomas Moore, broke ground in November 2022.

The ribbon cutting, free and open to the public, will be 4 p.m. Friday at the building, 903 Main St., and will feature all-female mariachi band Las Dahlias and a performance by the Longmont Senior Center’s dance troupe, Bailes de Mi Tierra.

Many family members of the building’s namesake will attend the ceremony. Peterson worked closely with Cardenas’ daughters Lydia Gomez and Rose Lontine as well as her grandsons, Michael Gomez and Julien Lontine.

Proceeds from a dinner to follow the ribbon cutting, to be held from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at Longmont Elks Lodge 1055 and Event Venue, 306 Coffman St., will help finance a mural on the building by Longmont artist Mario Miguel Echevarria that will pay tribute to Cardenas. The Mexican buffet will be catered by La Mariposa restaurant, and the event will include a cash bar, live music by the Joe Cool band, and both a live and silent auction. Echevarria will display a rendering of the mural design at the dinner.

Tickets for the dinner are $35 and can be purchased online.

The first floor will house 3,654 square feet of retail space that is divisible to as little as 385 square feet. Available commercial space on the second floor is 1,169 square feet, which is divisible to 585 square feet.

Five of the apartments have two bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms and will range from 1,175 to 1,196 square feet. The sixth will have one bedroom and one-and-a-half baths and will measure 1,074 square feet.

Each commercial and residential space has a purified air system, and developers say the zoned heating and air conditioning systems will use 50% less energy than traditional systems. They say their energy models predict that the building will use up to 20% less energy than what is required in city codes.

The building includes an outdoor courtyard, a rooftop deck with mountain views, and an electric-vehicle charging station.

Its leasing agent is Chris Wynja of Keller Williams Commercial.

Rocky Ridge Civil Engineering did the engineering work on the building, which was planned by  Vecchi & Associates LLC.

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