The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a $20 million grant to Commún, a nonprofit planning to build a community center on the Loretto Heights campus to help the surrounding neighborhoods respond to climate-driven disasters like power outages and wildfires.
The project will transform Machebuff Hall, a former cafeteria and student union built in 1950, into a one-stop-shop of social services for a rapidly changing area in southwest Denver. Once complete, the community center will include a commercial kitchen, a grocery store, food stalls, a mental health center, classrooms, co-working spaces, an event space, a laundry facility and more.
On Saturday, Mayor Mike Johnston joined U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper at the site of the future community center to announce the award. The federal funding comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate investment act signed by President Joe Biden in 2022, which set aside $1.6 billion to help local communities cut pollution and build climate resilience.
Loretto Heights is a sprawling 72-acre campus perched atop a hill with panoramic views in Denver’s South Harvey Park neighborhood. It was founded as a Catholic boarding school in the late 1800s and operated until 1988 before becoming a college for international students. In 2018, Westside Investment Partners purchased the site to develop a mixed-use community with apartments and commercial spaces.
Commún also envisions the facility as a disaster refuge. If the power grid fails, a combination of solar panels, backup batteries and a diesel generator should keep the lights on. The HVAC system contains a specialized filter to protect the indoor air quality from wildfire smoke. While the kitchen will usually operate as a rentable space for local cooks, it can also produce frozen food to help feed residents during emergency events.
Besides bracing the neighborhood for a hotter planet, the project is also meant to help the community cut its climate-warming emissions. The renovation will allow the building to keep occupants comfortable using all-electric heat pumps, eliminating demand for natural gas. Outdoor plugs will also allow residents to recharge electric vehicles and electric bikes.
Margaret Brugger, the executive director of Commún, founded the nonprofit after learning a developer had purchased Loretto Heights, which is less than a mile from her home.
She set a goal to put a community space at the heart of the project, which could provide a shared sense of belonging for longtime residents and newcomers set to move into southwest Denver.
“We knew our neighborhood was going to change. We knew it. We saw it coming. Housing prices were already rising and some of the predictors of a changing neighborhood were already happening, which can be great and can disproportionately affect certain people,” Brugger said.
After founding the nonprofit in 2018, Brugger and her colleagues started looking for ways to offer immediate assistance. She soon found many of her neighbors were struggling to feed their families amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, Commún started organizing weekly “food shares” to provide affordable groceries. The nonprofit also offers mental health and job training resources.
Andrea Savage, the co-founder and associate director of Commún, said the experience showed the community center should function as a literal and figurative “beacon on a hill” amid future disasters. She added the recent fires in Los Angeles show how quickly a catastrophe can leave residents scrambling for resources.
“If they had a resiliency hub in the neighborhood nearby, there would be a place people could go to breathe clean air and recoup while their homes are cooling down,” Savage said.
Commún expects the renovation project will cost $40 million, so the recent federal grants will provide a massive boost to make the vision a reality.
Before getting the EPA grant, the nonprofit had already received close to $10 million from private foundations, individuals and the Sisters of Loretto, the Catholic religious group behind the original boarding school at the same location.
In 2023, Denver City Council approved an almost $3 million donation through the city’s Economic Development & Opportunity to help the nonprofit purchase the site. The Gates Family Foundation also helped finance the purchase.
The nonprofit plans to raise the remaining $10 million for the project through an ongoing capital campaign. In the meantime, it expects to break ground in March and open the community center in the fall of 2026.
