Crosstown Concourse receives prestigious preservation award

The Crosstown Concourse renovation is one of three national winners of the 2018 preservation awards bestowed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the trust announced Monday.

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award is among the nation’s most coveted honors for preservation projects.

The 1.5 million-square-foot Sears, Roebuck and Co. warehouse, mail-order and retail facility opened in 1927 but sat vacant and blighted since 1993.

The $200 million-plus renovation was completed by 2017, and within a year of its rebirth as Crosstown Concourse the facility has achieved nearly full occupancy.

The Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards are the most sought after of all the National Trust awards.

Looney Ricks Kiss designed the renovation with DIALOG.

The developers refer to Crosstown Concourse as a “vertical urban village’’ because it houses office and retail space, apartments, charter high school, YMCA, artist residency studios and other tenants.

“Once abandoned and listed as one of Tennessee’s most endangered historic places, the exciting transformation of Crosstown Concourse into a vibrant community landmark is one of the most remarkable preservation success stories in our state in years,’’ E. Patrick McIntyre, executive director and state historic preservation officer of the Tennessee Historical Commission, said in a release.

“The large scale and layout of the building makes it possible to serve a wide variety of creative uses,’’ he said.

The commission supported a federal rehabilitation tax credit for the project.