Sally Kurtzman and Christine O’Connor or Lowry United Neighborhoods welcomed INC delegates to the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, whose COO Mark Hyatt generously made the Museum available for our January 2016 meeting.

[See pictures, courtesy of Ray Ehrenstein.]

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As pointed out in the welcome comments by Kurtzman & O’Connor, the Museum is located in the Lowry Technical Training Historic District, one of the two historic districts on Lowry. The entire Lowry neighborhood is built on 1800 acres of the former Lowry Air Force Base. The base operated from 1937-1994 when it was decommissioned and the Lowry Reuse Plan was created with widespread community involvement from 23 neighborhoods and provided the vision on which the two cities of Aurora and Denver would redevelop the base. This exciting community is now almost built out. Some residents have been here since 1998! Kurtzman and O’Connor pointed out the thriving Hangar 2 restaurant district located under the soaring Hangars, and encouraged people to visit this vibrant district.

Lowry was specifically developed as a mixed community, with the emphasis on education and homes. Currently there are 14 schools (from preschool to higher ed) on Lowry, and 100 businesses. Housing is available within a wide range of prices and styles. The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act provides for the use of surplus federal property to benefit the homeless, and because Lowry was developed on surplus property, planning for affordable units was built in from the beginning. As a result, according to Monty Force, Executive Director of the Lowry Redevelopment Authority, today there are “over 1,000 affordable apartments and for-sale homes” on Lowry.

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