The Denver Housing Authority's mixed-use development in Sun Valley continues to rise along the South Platte River, with construction projects in the works next to historic single-family homes.
On Thursday morning, the DHA, City Councilmember Jamie Torres, interim Department of Housing Stability head Susan Powers and others gathered to break ground on the third and final phase of the residential part of a project that will include three new buildings.
The building "Joli" will include a food incubator project for residents wanting to explore entrepreneurial careers in the restaurant industry, plus 80 income-restricted units, each with one to five bedrooms. "Sol" will include 132 income-restricted units with one to four bedrooms. And "Flo" will have 212 income-restricted units for seniors 62 and up and people with disabilities -- it will include a mix of one- and two-bedroom units.
Shaw Builders and OZ Architecture are building both Flo and Joli, and general contractor I-Kota and the firm Studio 646 Architecture are building Sol.
The final non-residential projects to break ground will include a riverfront park, an urban farm collaboration between DHA and the Denver Botanic Gardens and a Community Grow Garden.
"Our goal is to create a new model of community transformation with equity, environmental justice and public health as the driving forces," said Josh Crawley, the interim executive director of the Denver Housing Authority.
Torres directly addressed the construction workers at the groundbreaking.
"If you're in hard hats back there, you're helping build future homes for people who have desperately wanted them," she said. "And building that community is no small feat. It is nothing trivial .... Every nail, every screw, every pillar means something to a future family."
Sun Valley, a multi-generational working-class neighborhood, is one of the city's most diverse.
At least 28 languages are spoken by residents there, 28% identify as first-generation immigrants and 20% as refugees.
"There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about what our generations before us went through in order for us not just to be where we're at right now but to even take the time to envision: What does the future look like?" said Torres, who grew up six blocks from the new development.
But, some say the development has disrupted that longstanding community.
Residents in public housing were forced to relocate during the construction and many will return to new homes. Many homes were demolished to make way for the new builds. Other houses, still standing, have been shaken by the ongoing construction.
"It has been hard for residents to leave this community, and then come back," Torres said. "So there's a huge responsibility on Denver Housing Authority, on District 3, on the whole Westside, to welcome people back to Sun Valley."
