A vacant commercial property just off the busy Santa Fe Drive and West Sixth Avenue intersection in Denver will soon have new life as a mixed-use project with more than 80 permanently affordable condos.
Local nonprofit Urban Land Conservancy purchased the 18,000-square-foot plot at 801 W. Sixth Ave. for $1.8 million, according to a news release this week. It is home to two empty commercial buildings, an L-shaped space that previously hosted a hail repair center and a larger warehouse just north of that on Inca Street.
Urban Land Conservancy is working with local firm Shanahan Development and the Elevation Community Land Trust to replace those structures with a mixed-use project that will feature 4,000 square feet for commercial space and 92 for-sale condos. Of those condos, 86 will be designated as permanently affordable and reserved for families making between $40,000 and $72,000 per year, the partners say.
The project is being called Inca Commons.
“The lack of affordable for-sale homes in the Metro Denver region is a significant problem,” Mark Marshall, Urban Land Conservancy’s director of real estate, said in a statement. “In order to provide working families and individuals with permanently affordable for-sale options we need creative opportunities like Inca Commons.”
It was Shanahan Development president and CEO Jeff Shanahan who zeroed in on the property and tabbed it for affordable housing, partners say. Coming for a family of educators, Shanahan has insight into the challenges working-class people face when trying to buy into Denver’s housing market. Some other metro area residential projects — such as Oakwood Homes’ “American Dream” development in Green Valley Ranch — have specifically appealed to teachers, firefighters and other public servants who are having trouble finding housing in their price range.
“It has been our ultimate goal to provide affordable for-sale housing opportunities in a centrally located area, and we are excited to see this development finally come to fruition thanks to our partnership with ULC and Elevation,” Shanahan said in a statement.
Elevation Community Land Trust provided equity for the project and will subsidize the cost of the affordable units, which officials say will be available for under $200,000. When the project is done, the trust will take over ownership of the land and lease it back to the project under a 99-year agreement designed to keep units affordable in perpetuity. The trust was formed last year with projects like this in mind.
“This is an incredible example of the strength behind partnership,” Elevation’s president and CEO Stefka Fanchi said in a statement.
Related Articles
- December 12, 2018
Commerce City “community hub” a new approach to affordable housing
- November 16, 2018
With $25 million from FirstBank, Denver’s Urban Land Conservancy has new tool in fight for affordability
- December 7, 2017
700 homes in 5 years: Metro Denver homeownership initiative has raised $24 million to help low-income families
- January 25, 2018
As condo construction picks up from a drip to a trickle in metro Denver, demand still far outstrips supply
Urban Land Conservancy was able to buy the property through its Metro Denver Impact Facility, a revolving source of loan capital kick started in November with $25 million from FirstBank. The tool has already allowed ULC to buy the corporate headquarters for Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains in Lakewood for $3.7 million and a former Adams County human services building that figures to be at the center of a “community hub” project pairing affordable housing with on-site support services for $3.8 million.
Work is expected to begin on Inca Commons in the second half of 2019. The condos are expected to hit the market in late 2020.
