An apartment project going up in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood will provide housing for two groups that advocates say have too few places to live in Denver: people with disabilities and those who make less than the area median income.
The Elisabetta project will bring 91 apartments to 5120 Broadway, a vacant lot known as the “west campus” for Laradon, a nonprofit organization that since 1948 has provided services to local infants, children and adults with disabilities.
Once the Elisabetta is completed late next year, it will house 22 apartments reserved for people with disabilities. All 91 one-, two- and three-bedroom units there will be rented to people making 60 percent or less of the area median annual income: $63,000. Eleven will be reserved for people making 31 to 50 percent of AMI, and 11 for those making 30 percent or less.
“It’s going to be great to really utilize the space for something functional both for Laradon and the community. We were mostly using it as a parking lot,” Alison Roth, the nonprofit’s development and communications manager, said Friday, noting that there is a local and national shortage of housing for people with disabilities. “We’re hoping it will help Globeville as well, especially with all the displacement with the Interstate 70 project and all the different construction going on.”
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The project will also include 12,500 square feet of classroom space to accommodate Laradon programs for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The organization runs a day program for adults on its campus, as well as a school for children with intellectual and development disabilities. After moving some of its classes across the street, Laradon plans to rent out some of its current space, creating another revenue stream outside of Medicare contributions.
The project, a recipient of federal tax credits, is being developed by Gorman & Company. The company’s Colorado market president, Kimball Crangle, said the project will be built with a focus on accessibility for people with disabilities.
Crangle, a former developer with Denver Housing Authority and member of social equity advocacy group All in Denver, said, “I think what’s critical important is how desperately we need affordable housing throughout the city right now and how we need resources to build these projects.”
The Elisabetta’s biggest funder is UnitedHealthcare. The industry giant is investing $14.7 million in equity into the $27 million project.
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