LRK is pleased to announce Orion FCU Headquarters won an AIA Gulf States Citation Award in the Renovation/Restoration category. Awards were announced during an online ceremony on November 18th. The program honors distinguished projects designed by AIA Gulf States Region members in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Nationally recognized architectural, planning, and interior design firm Looney Ricks Kiss (LRK) is pleased to announce Tony Pellicciotti as managing principal of its staff of over 120 across eight offices.

Pellicciotti is one of LRK’s fourteen principals representing its markets in Memphis, Dallas, Philadelphia, Orlando/Celebration, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Little Rock, and Princeton. Tony has been with LRK for over 27 years and has consistently demonstrated outstanding project leadership, fostered collaboration, and achieved creative solutions for our clients. 

“With a broad, diverse range of project experience, Tony has helped establish LRK’s national expertise in historic and adaptive reuse projects.  Tony practices LRK’s culture of collaboration in every project and interaction.  He embodies the LRK philosophy both personally and professionally,” said Frank Ricks, LRK founding principal based in Memphis. “He believes that thoughtful design inspires and motivates people to be, and to achieve, more than they thought possible, and we are confident that he will bring the same attributes to his new role.”

Pellicciotti’s practice has guided and led to the social, economic, and critical successes of internationally acclaimed projects such as Crosstown Concourse, the world’s largest historic, adaptive reuse, LEED Platinum certified project, as well as the Tennessee Brewery, Chisca on Main, and Orion Federal Credit Union Headquarters. Such examples have lended LRK’s adaptive reuse expertise across the country with projects in the pipeline including current high-rise projects in Philadelphia and Salt Lake City.

Pelliccioti’s projects over the years have been recognized with numerous industry awards and featured in publications including ARCHITECT, Architectural Record, Architectural Digest, Metropolis, Building Design + Construction, and Contract.

“One of LRK’s greatest strengths is its mindset of a small firm, family culture and, simultaneously, the horsepower and skillsets of a large firm.  Built into this culture is the flexibility for team members to learn, grow and develop expertise in project types ranging in scale and architectural stylistic responses,” said Mike Sullivan, principal based in Baton Rouge. “Our willingness to collaborate internally and externally across our various studios brings added value to our clients.”

The Fannie C. Harris Center has been named a finalist in the ULI Dallas-Fort Worth Impact Awards in the Social Impact category. Winning entries in the Influence, Innovation, Social Impact and Public Places categories will be announced at the Impact Awards gala dinner tomorrow, October 20th, at The Renaissance Hotel Dallas. The finalists for the 2021 ULI Dallas-Fort Worth Impact Awards program were selected by a jury comprised of members of the Urban Land Institute from across the North American continent. “This year’s jury was focused on the ULI mission of creating and sustaining thriving communities. They quickly identified which developments were having a significant positive impact on their surroundings,” noted Pam Stein, Executive Director of ULI Dallas-Fort Worth. “With several outstanding projects submitted by non-profits, they also determined that the Social Impact category first implemented in 2019 should be continued, creating a fifth award again this year.”

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, winners of the 2020 Governor’s Stewardship Awards were retroactively celebrated alongside the 2021 award winners this past week in Nashville. Crosstown Concourse, which won a 2018 Governor’s Award in the Building Green category, was honored with a 2020 Pursuit of Excellence Award. The Pursuit of Excellence Award is given for a project that shows continued and substantial improvement in the area of sustainability. FedExFamilyHouse also won a 2020 Governor’s Award in the Building Green category. The Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards program recognizes outstanding voluntary actions that improve or protect our environment and natural resources through projects or initiatives not required by law or regulation.

Pecan Square graces the cover of this month’s issue of Builder magazine and is featured in the article, “5 Master Plan Trends Home Buyers Gravitate Toward Today.” For many Americans, the home has taken center stage since COVID-19 began impacting our world over a year and a half ago. With many shifting to remote work, homebuyers have been increasingly open to new locations and to moving further from the urban core. Master-planned communities are an attractive option for a variety of buyers right now, and the Builder article states that the following trends are prevalent in those neighborhoods: community engagement, outdoor connectivity, water access, multigenerational focus, and living well. The article focuses on the array of outdoor recreational/event spaces that Pecan Square has to offer and notes that many planned communities are “now opting for outdoor entertainment venues instead of the more traditional indoor club facilities” because of COVID concerns and the growing focus on wellness and being outside. Another benefit, they’re also less expensive to build and maintain.

The DMC Design Review Board unanimously voted to approve the design plans for the Downtown Mobility Center yesterday. The six-story center, located on the 1.3-acre surface parking lot to the north of the Orpheum Theater, will include 975 parking spaces, 13,500 square feet of retail, bike storage, and showers. The DMC believes more people will want to commute by bike downtown if showers are available, so access to the both the showers and bike storage will be available as a membership. The Beale Street façade will also feature a monumental stair with dramatic views of downtown, Beale Street, and the river. The Downtown Mobility Center will help create a seamless connection between Beale and the river and Main Street and the South Main Arts District.

Growthspotter - The 300-unit Cortland Colburn luxury apartment community will serve Celebration’s newest town center with 300 units of residential and 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail. In addition, a resort-style amenity center will accompany the apartments and serve all Celebration residents. The amenity center will include private conference and dining spaces, a private European pantry and tearoom, a lounge with connected outdoor space, pet wash and park, fitness center with two flex studios featuring spin bikes and private training, maker’s room with co-working spaces, and collaborative art zones. LRK is serving as architect of record for the Cortland Colburn apartments and amenity center.

We are honored to announce the LRK-designed Fannie C. Harris Youth Center is a winner of the 2021 Metamorphosis Awards, receiving 2nd place in the Adaptive Reuse category. The center, located in a former elementary school, assists unsheltered youth currently enrolled in Dallas Independent School District high schools and supports immediate needs of other homeless young adults ages 14-21. Sponsored by retrofit magazine, the competition honors outstanding work retrofitting commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings. Winners will be featured in the November-December issue of retrofit magazine. We are grateful that we could support the growth of this vital program.