Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp. hired CSHQA to design Depot Square, a mixed-use development intended to help ease the demand for housing in the city of Driggs while also providing commercial retail units that will help expand the downtown area.
This important project provides 31 new affordable apartments (1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom options) in a rural area that is in great need of additional housing. The new apartment building also features a community meeting room, three live-work units, four small incubation/proof-of-concept spaces dedicated for up-and-coming local businesses, and two larger retail spaces.
As part of a growing region, Driggs set specific design guidelines for new projects to ensure a cohesive downtown aesthetic—designs should allude to the city’s heritage while developing their own unique character. In keeping with this, the team chose materials—stone and wood finishes with accents of metal—that would modernize the area’s Western feel while remaining cost-effective. The team also chose to emulate the entrances of the other historic buildings in the area in their design.
CSHQA architects and engineers responded to several challenges throughout the project. The discovery of old railroad infrastructure on site required the team to do extensive site work early in the construction phase to prepare for foundations and footing, ensuring the building would be structurally sound. Because the project shares a block with another mixed-use project, opportunities for shared site elements were explored and implemented, and both projects were constructed simultaneously by the same general contractor. Completed in August 2023, the new apartments located at the southwest corner of Depot Street and Front Street are an exciting and much needed addition to the community of Driggs.
