The Urban Land Conservancy (ULC) celebrates the achievements of its partnerships that create and preserve nonprofit facilities and affordable housing for communities in metro Denver. ULC’s Monthly Partner Spotlight is awarded to partners who demonstrate the value of collaboration, furthering our mission to improve the lives of Metro Denver residents through our real estate investments and community assets.

Congratulations to our March 2017 Partner Spotlight of the Month: Alliance Construction Solutions!

Originally founded in 1982 under the name Baldwin Construction Inc., Alliance Construction Solutions works primarily in the Rocky Mountain region, with a focus in the hospitality, affordable housing and commercial construction markets. While Alliance and Urban Land Conservancy’s paths have crossed in the past, we have had the pleasure of working directly with Alliance on the remodel of our Mountain View Nonprofit Tower in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

During the first quarter of 2016, ULC released multiple requests for proposals (RFP’s) for the remodel at Mountain View Nonprofit Tower. After several rounds of interviews, ULC chose Grey Wolf Architecture as the lead architect, and Alliance as our construction company. With over 30 years working in the Denver metro region, Alliance is recognized as a leader in the Rocky Mountain construction community. It has been clear since the project commenced that Alliance has the industry experience and highly qualified staff to ensure the Mountain View remodel was both timely and well built.

Alliance has long standing success in nearly every construction market – from healthcare facilities to commercial space. Joshua Thall, a Project Manager at Alliance, said that as a full service commercial general contractor, Alliance works in almost every vertical sector, with a primary focus in hospitality and affordable housing markets.  The company, which employees 40+ people, is currently in the midst of multiple projects across the Denver metro area.

From partnering with Saint Francis Center to build affordable housing at Cathedral Square off of Colfax, to the construction of a boutique hotel in the RiNo neighborhood, Alliance is at the forefront of construction in Denver. Thall was eager to announce Alliance’s latest – and biggest – project, the Hilton Garden Inn at Denver Union Station on the corner of 20^th street and Chestnut place in lower downtown. The 233-room hotel will incorporate the Historic Denver Hose House (Denver’s oldest firehouse) by completely renovating the building to its original state. It will then be used as the hotel’s main restaurant. The hotel is set to open in early 2019.

It is evident that Alliance takes pride in each of their projects both big and small, and Thall said that his organization truly enjoys the reward of working in the affordable housing industry.

“To date, we have constructed over 1,000 units of affordable housing,” Thall said. “And we are really proud of the fact that we can partner with certain organizations and play a role in ensuring affordable housing options remain available to those who need it most.”

Alliance’s work on ULC’s Mountain View Nonprofit Tower, which provides commercial space to nonprofits at below market rates, has completed its final stage of construction. Their work has been thorough and well executed throughout the entire project, and despite minor obstacles that are not uncommon with renovation projects, we have completed the upgrades successfully! Debra Bustos, the Vice President of Real Estate at ULC, spoke highly of Alliance and their persistent work ethic.

“Working with the team at Alliance Construction Solutions has been a good experience,” Bustos explained. “Their work to remodel seven floors of commercial office space to update all restroom facilities for ADA compliancy and successfully install a brand new elevator has made a huge difference to the tenants of the building and their clients. We have had minimal tenant complaints during the process, and we credit Alliance for making this large scale project minimally invasive to the nonprofits working in the building.”

Aside from their success in the construction business, Alliance is a well-rounded and intentional company. Thall explained that one of their most effective decisions was developing the company around an employee ownership model. This gives each employee the opportunity to “buy in” to Alliance, and insures that not one person owns more than 50% of the entire company. Thall said the model has been highly effective, as the company is truly based on employee success, and vice versa.

“With this model, the success of our company and the type of projects we provide to our clients becomes very personal to our employees,” Thall explained. “The model totally fits within our culture. We are a team and family oriented group here at Alliance, and we treat our clients and our employees equally.”

As Alliance complete construction at Mountain View Nonprofit Tower (which is set to conclude in the next two weeks), we look forward to celebrating our first project together, and look forward to growing our relationship moving forward. Congratulations to Alliance on being ULC’s Partner Spotlight, we are so pleased to call Alliance a partner in our work to create affordable real estate solutions in Metro Denver! For more information about Alliance Construction Solutions, please visit their website here.