Design Team of the Year finalist: Boomer Town Studios

Brian Kubik: Studios are a big improvement over former single-family residences.

Owner/developer: Boomertown Lofts LLC
General contractor: Larry Snyder and Co.
Architect: Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective
Engineers: Lee Engineering and Associates LLC, Miller Engineering PC and Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective
Interior designer: Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective
Size: 41,381 square feet
Cost: $4.5 million
Project completed: August 2018

Boomer Town Studios was developed with the convenience of on-campus dorms – due to its close proximity to Missouri State University – and coupled with the design and feel of solo apartment living.

The 70 single-occupancy, fully furnished 391-square-foot studios are situated in a four-story walk-up just 200 feet from MSU across National Avenue, said Brian Kubik, principal, architect and president of Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective.

The studio complex is designed to house two commercial tenants within the bottom floor, he said, and Travellers House Coffee opened Sept. 24 in one of the spaces.

Kubik said construction crews were on a tight timeline to finish by the start of MSU’s fall semester.

“Once the project got going, it went fairly smooth,” he said. “If there were any issues at all they were simply making efforts to be good neighbors with the Rountree Neighborhood Association and scheduling construction deliveries to a limited accessible site.”

The site required public utility upgrades, he said, including a greater electrical capacity and a new water main on National.

Kubik called the project a “tremendous upgrade from the former single-family dilapidated residence structures between Page and Madison streets.”

He said his favorite design element is the development’s contemporary look with clean lines.