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Above: Populus, which opened
in Denver September 2024 as the
country’s first carbon-positive hotel.

When it comes to developing urban spaces through a sustainable lens, a team of planners, architects and builders needs to address the carbon footprint of their design. There’s a whole lot more to it than that, however, points out Jon Buerge, president of Denver-based real estate firm Urban Villages. “It’s about creating places where communities can thrive for generations,” he says. “It involves integrating environmental, social and economic responsibility into the fabric of every project.”

That’s precisely the approach Urban Villages has taken for the past 20 years. Since brothers Tom and Grant McCargo founded the company in 2004, it has been driven by a mission to develop neighborhoods and revamp cities in a way that not only has a positive, lasting impact on the world but also inspires inhabitants and visitors. The team does this by focusing on adaptive reuse of historic structures, creating innovative energy systems, building for long-term use and prioritizing materials that are equally eco-friendly and resilient. “Our goal is to leave the planet in a better place than we found it,” Buerge says, “all while meeting the increasing preference by today’s consumers to travel responsibly, experience places in an authentic way and connect more deeply with nature and each other.”

Sonder RailSpur, a hotel in Seattle

Many of the firm’s projects, both in Colorado and farther afield, demonstrate these objectives. In Denver, the sustainability-focused updates Urban Villages made to Larimer Square in the mid-2010s — including converting a parking garage roof into an urban farm, installing energy-efficient bistro lights and transforming the street into a pedestrian-only oasiscontinue to draw locals and visitors alike. The company has also spearheaded out-of-state projects like zero-net-energy community West Village at the University of California, Davis and a regenerative cattle ranch in Maui.

Notably, Urban Villages designs sustainably while also paying careful attention to aesthetics. Populus, which opened in Denver September 2024 as the country’s first carbon-positive hotel (meaning it will sequester more carbon than it produces), features myriad environmentally friendly touches throughout the structure like recycled and repurposed building materials, an onsite biodigester that composts all food waste and low-carbon concrete mixes, to name just a few. Meanwhile, the building itself, with its off-white exterior and collection of ovalesque windows, bears a resemblance that’s striking in both its similarity to its namesake populus tremula, or aspen tree, and its beauty. In Seattle, the firm’s ongoing RailSpur development will not only be the largest LEED Platinum-certified, National Park Service-approved historic preservation project in the country; it will also include an eye-catching, sixstory-high living green wall and an airy, light-filled gathering space.

Another significant piece of the sustainable development puzzle involves looking beyond the building materials to understanding how the finished project will integrate with the community. To do this well requires digging into — and ultimately respecting — the structure’s history. Often that involves taking a thoughtful look at what can be preserved from the original structure. “There is no more sustainable building practice,” Urban Villages co-founder and partner Tom McCargo notes on the company website, “than the adaptive reuse of historic buildings.”

Developers must also listen to the wants and needs of those who will eventually use the space. Urban Villages integrates practices like hosting community town halls ahead of the building process and prioritizing local businesses in the area they develop, Buerge says. “ We believe that development can serve as a catalyst for social and economic healing when done right.”

Buerge expects that over time, the industry as a whole will follow its blueprint for greener community development. He anticipates that in the future other firms will also move toward more zero-carbon and regenerative buildings while also continuing to make more advancements in earth-friendly technologies. There will likely also be an increased emphasis on social equity in urban planning.

Building with an eye to nurturing both people and place presents a beautiful opportunity, Buerge says, to create “communities that thrive in harmony with the planet.”

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urban-villages.com

Courtney Holden
Writer
courtney-holden.com