KTGY Group Architecture + Planning & Country's Top Builders/Developers Earn National Recognition for Diverse Range of Capabilities, Excellence & Innovation

KTGY Group and some of this country's top builders/developers have earned nine Gold Nugget Merit Awards honoring the firm's wide range of capabilities, excellence and innovation in addressing complex design/build issues in attached, detached, sustainable communities, mixed-use, transit-oriented developments, and campus housing. End Quote

Orange County, CA (1888PressRelease) June 08, 2011 - KTGY Group, Inc., Architecture + Planning, and some of this country's top builder/developers have earned nine Awards of Merit in the 2011 Gold Nugget Award design and planning competition. The awards honor the firm's wide range of capabilities, excellence and innovation in addressing complex design/build issues in attached, detached, sustainable communities, mixed-use, transit-oriented developments, and campus housing. The winning projects include: University of California, Irvine (UCI) East Campus Apartments Phase III; The Crossing at Anaheim in Anaheim, Calif.; Gallery 421 in downtown Long Beach, Calif.; Paragon at Old Town in Monrovia, Calif.; La Floresta in Brea, Calif.; 12th & Burnside in Portland, Ore.; and The Shell House in Nassau, Bahamas.

In Orange County, UCI East Campus privately-developed Apartments, Phase III, received a Gold Nugget Award of Merit in two categories: Campus Housing Project (Category 19) and Community Site Plan - up to 20 Acres (Category 23). The developer was American Campus Communities, Inc.; the general contractor was Benchmark Contractors. Phase III of UC Irvine's East Campus Student Housing project added 1,763 beds to UCI's on-campus housing, which allows the university to house nearly 43 percent of its students on campus. Phase III encompasses three separate sites: Puerta del Sol, 565-bed graduate community; Camino del Sol, an 1,198-bed undergraduate complex, which brought the first townhome-style living to the campus, and a community clubhouse, "The Lodge;" plus a 7-level parking structure. Both student housing complexes and "The Lodge" earned a LEED Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Camino del Sol and The Lodge also earned the 2011 Student Housing Business Innovator Award for On-Campus Best Architecture/Design.

American Campus Communities is one of the nation's largest owners, developers and managers of high-quality student housing and has worked with KTGY and Benchmark to complete two other housing facilities on the campus: Vista del Campo, which opened in 2004; and Vista del Campo Norte, which opened in 2006. This brings the total number of KTGY-designed UCI student housing to 5,000 beds. These projects have garnered numerous accolades including Pillars of the Industry Award for Best Student Housing Apartment Community by the National Association of Home Builders and multiple Gold Nugget Awards including two Gold Nugget Grand Awards, presented at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC).

"Today's students expect environmental responsibility from their campus as well as great amenities," said Daniel R. McAllister, NCARB, Principal, Director of Architecture at KTGY. "UCI's new student housing communities certainly set the bar very high for both amenities as well as green living."

"The University of California, Irvine (UCI) for decades has been a leader in environmental stewardship," said UCI's Wendell Brase, Vice Chancellor. "UCI incorporates sustainability-thinking in all aspects of design, specification, construction and operations."

The Crossing at Anaheim earned a Gold Nugget Award of Merit in the category of Green/Sustainable Community (Category 34). Located by the Anaheim Metrolink and Amtrak train stop and close to shopping, dining and entertainment venues, The Crossing at Anaheim is a conversion of industrial land to 312-unit luxury rental apartments and live/work style townhomes. To mitigate the noise of the trains passing by, great care was taken to orient units to private courtyards within the buildings. These courtyard spaces serve as the social heart of the project, joining with the spacious club room, fitness center/spa, and leasing areas to create an exciting, hip, and sophisticated environment. Featuring contemporary urban architecture, resort-style amenities, and an eco-friendly design and construction, The Crossing is LEED Gold certified and is a smoke-free residential community. SARES•REGIS Group is the developer and owner.

According to David Senden, a principal with KTGY and lead designer on the project, the overall design exceeds Title 24 efficiency standards by over 22 percent, lowering energy consumption and providing cost savings to residents. SARES•REGIS achieved a 87 percent landfill diversion rate during demolition and donated more than 70,000 cubic yards of sand from the construction site to the City for re-use as improvements to the nearby local river bed.

"In a region dominated by the automobile and consumption of our natural resources, this environmentally-friendly development is a positive alternative that responds to a new demographic that is energy conscious but still demands resort-style living and rich amenities, near mass transit, employment, shopping and entertainment," Senden noted.

Gallery421 in downtown Long Beach, Calif. received a Gold Nugget Award of Merit in the category of Mixed-Use Project (Category 12). Gallery421 is a high density, mixed-use infill development adjacent to City Hall in downtown Long Beach, one of Southern California's most unique waterfront urban destinations to live, work, and play. The project's 291 rental units are within walking distance of retail, restaurants, entertainment venues, offices and transit. Approximately 16,000 sq. ft. of retail line the edges of Magnolia Avenue and Broadway, while townhomes wrap the remaining sides of Chestnut and 3rd Street. In addition to its luxury unit interiors are a business and conference center with WiFi, HDTV and teleconferencing, billiards room, card room, a dog-grooming room, an on-site art gallery, a coffee bar, a yoga and Pilates studio, a private movie theatre, a game room with Wii, a fitness center and an exterior TV wall. Gallery421 also includes open spaces, a resort-style pool and spa, barbecue grills, private balconies, concierge services, outdoor seating with a TV and bar area plus fireplace areas. Gallery421 has been designed and built as an environmentally-friendly, smoke-free residential community promoting healthy living and sustainable practices. Lyon Communities is the developer and owner. This is Lyon Communities' third luxury community in downtown Long Beach.

"These spacious and exceedingly comfortable apartment homes are designed with open floor plans and lofty ceilings, casting natural light deep into the home thus reducing the demands on residents' utility costs," said David Obitz, principal of KTGY and Gallery421's lead designer. "A fine art gallery interwoven into the social experience of Gallery421 makes for a unique urban amenity blending art and living into the '421' lifestyle and offers yet another compelling reason to be downtown.

"The Interiors are modern and sophisticated, exuding a metropolitan flair that appeals to the young and young-at-heart alike. With the blending of art and amenity-rich, urban mixed-use living, there is nothing like this downtown Long Beach or in the greater area," Obitz said.

Paragon at Old Town in Monrovia, Calif. earned a Gold Nugget Award of Merit in two categories: Multifamily Housing Project - 4 to 6 stories (Category 17) and Infill, Re-development or Rehab Site Plan - up to 5 Acres (Category 25). Paragon at Old Town is a 4-story mixed-use, urban apartment community that sits at the south end of the Monrovia's historic Old Town district on Myrtle Avenue. The new development consists of 163 luxurious one-and two-bedroom apartment homes built over 6,000 square feet of commercial space situated on the ground floor. A 4-story attached parking garage occupies the south east corner of the site and contains approximately 75 public parking spaces and 330 resident spaces.

Developed by Urban Housing Group, LLC, Paragon at Old Town provides amenity-rich living within walking-distance to services, transportation, boutique shops, cafes, restaurants and entertainment. In its rating of the U.S.'s Most Walkable Neighborhoods, Walk Score awarded Paragon at Old Town a score of 95 out of 100, calling it "a Walker's Paradise."

"Paragon at Old Town is a perfect example of the type of projects that cities and experienced developers are focused on in this current economic climate: core, urban locations that offer close proximity to jobs, amenities, transportation and established infrastructure where people can live, work, play and shop," noted McAllister. Western National Construction was the general contractor.

La Floresta in Brea, Calif. received a Gold Nugget Award of Merit in the category of On the Boards Site Plan (Category 27). La Floresta is a multi-generational, mixed-use community that offers new housing opportunities, jobs and amenities on a prominent urban infill site in north Orange County. Approved in June 2010 and currently under construction, the project involves repositioning of a property that formerly housed the Unocal Oil Company's research and development center for over 50 years. Project design incorporates strong walkability and "sense of place" features with a mix of smaller, connected neighborhoods, avoiding a mass production feel and celebrating a more organic maturation of town evolution. A village core represents the heart of the community, with gateway public art, restaurants, retail, offices and residences.

According to KTGY's Principal Ken Ryan, the project's land planner, the plan reflects extensive community outreach, incorporating stakeholder input and contextual considerations. La Floresta also includes a reconfigured 18-hole golf course, community center and workforce housing on the nearby Birch Hills Golf Course site. Upon build-out, La Floresta allows for up to 1,357 dwelling units, including 1,110 units on the 119-acre mixed-use site and 247 units on the 92-acre reconfigured golf course site. Chevron Land and Development is the landowner and manager of the property; the developer is La Floresta, LLC. Oakmont Senior Living is the builder for the first phase of La Floresta.

12th and Burnside in Portland, Ore. earned a Gold Nugget Award of Merit in the category of On the Boards Multifamily Community (Category 20). Situated near downtown Portland on the site of a former 70-car surface parking lot, this 136-unit pedestrian-friendly senior community introduces stylish urban living with a mixed-use component. The architecture is distinctly contemporary with simple lines and a well-dressed palette of materials.

According to KTGY's Principal Manny Gonzalez, AIA, LEED AP and the lead designer, "Residents are treated to a 4,900 sq. ft. community center that includes a hobby, craft and fitness area. Carefully executed common open spaces are a breath of fresh air as well as a roof top garden terrace totaling nearly 7,600 sq. ft., which residents can enjoy." The new residential community is intended for minimum LEED Silver certification. Foursquare Foundation is the developer and owner.

Designed by KTGY's Jessica Musick and Brian Davis, LEED AP, under the direction of Principal David Senden, The Shell House in Nassau, Bahamas received a Gold Nugget Award of Merit in the category of On the Boards Custom Home (Category 9). Situated on 3.3 acres, The Shell House is an ocean-front home featuring a 10,200 sq. ft. home and two guest/employee houses.

"This home is for those that value an intimate connection to Sun, Air, Land and Water and love to blur the line between indoor and outdoor living. What makes this house even more unique, outside of the stunning ocean views and outdoor living, is that the main axis of the house aligns with the setting sun on the day of the summer solstice. Residents can watch the sun gracefully dip into the sea, directly in line with linear pool extending from main living space," Senden noted.

"The main house and guest/employee houses orient themselves toward a common center point that sits on a circulation curve, maximizing water and site views. Exterior courtyards located directly off the circulation curve help break the architecture into pods and create intimate outdoor rooms. Rooftop solar panels provide for electrical needs and saves energy and money. Windows on multiple sides of most rooms promote air circulation and natural ventilation and daylighting," Senden said.

The oldest and largest program of its kind-now in its 48th year-the Gold Nugget Awards honor creative achievements in architectural design and land use planning for residential, commercial and industrial projects. Drawing more than 400 entries from the 14 western states and internationally, the Gold Nugget Awards program is the premier event of the annual PCBC, the nation's largest regional trade show and conference. Grand Award winners will emerge from the Award of Merit circle, and all award winners will be celebrated at the Gold Nugget Awards Luncheon on Thursday, June 23, 2011, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. See www.goldnuggetawards.com.

About KTGY Group, Inc.
Established in 1991, KTGY Group, Inc., Architecture + Planning, provides comprehensive planning and award-winning architectural design services for residential communities, retail, hospitality, mixed-use and related specialty developments. KTGY delivers innovative solutions that reflect clear understanding of development, marketing and financial performance and takes particular pride in its highly motivated and principal led studios. Serving clients worldwide, KTGY maintains offices in Irvine, Oakland and Santa Monica, Calif., Denver, Colo., and Tysons Corner, Va. See www.ktgy.com.

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