The Denver Housing Authority is slated to bring a $20 million mixed-income housing project to the Curtis Park area in the Five Points neighborhood that will have 68 units dedicated to low-income residents and senior citizens.
The bulk of the housing will come to a collection of homes known as the Platte Valley Homes at two locations: 3058 Champa St. and 3401 Arapahoe St. The Arapahoe location will be home to 18 senior-focused units and the other 50 units are being re-developed from nine properties currently on Champa Street.
The mixed-income portion of this development comes by way of the 15 additional land parcels in the area that the DHA will put up for sale at market-rate values. At least two of these additional parcels will be restricted to 80 percent of the area's average median income to keep them affordable for mid- to low-income families.
According to the information provided by the Colorado Housing and Finance authority, that would make households with two incomes making less than $57,600 eligible for those slots. The proceeds from those land parcel sales will be reinvested back into the DHA’s affordable housing program, according to DHA’s real estate development director, Ryan Tobin.
The redevelopment is part of DHA's focus on diverse and affordable housing communities.
This re-development effort is all in alignment with the DHA’s commitment to creating and preserving diverse and affordable housing communities in Denver according to Tobin and
“This is one of the older housing sites in our portfolio," Tobin said, "and this is ensuring that they'll be there for the long term and they'll serve mid- to low-income families for the near and foreseeable future."
The units at Champa Street were originally built in 1942 and getting these re-developed has been a decades-long endeavor that has relied heavily on community input, Tobin said. The parcel of land on Arapahoe Street is currently vacant, but the 18 affordable units going there will be built with accessibility in mind and will give older residents the tools they need to move comfortably in and out of the building, according to DHA’s plans.
Stella Madrid, DHA’s community affairs officer, also said that former residents of the Platte Valley homes get the first right of refusal after the redevelopment is completed to preserve the community that has been displaced during the renovations. Tobin said that they believe the construction work will take about 12 months, and then DHA will be able to start moving people back into the community, but the at-market land parcels could go up for sale as soon as the fourth quarter of this year.
The affordable units on Champa Street will re-open with new washers and dryers, and accommodate residents with a bit more space for larger families.
This week, Denver City Council approved a loan to help fund DHA’s development efforts and to affirm the city’s commitment to affordable housing according to Tobin. The loan will only cover only about 5 percent of the project’s total costs but will ensure that for the next 30 years, that portion of the project will be protected as affordable housing.
