If you haven't driven past the corner of Peoria Street and Albrook Drive in the past year, you may have missed the massive building being erected to house families, local businesses and a mental health center.
The Montbello FreshLo Hub broke ground in March 2023 and it is well on its way to be completed after years of community engagement, fundraising processes, the pandemic, inflation, sweat, tears, more engagement, more fundraising... you get the picture.
Let's take a trip back in time.
In 2014, Montbello's only full-size grocery store left the area, turning the neighborhood into a food desert. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, an area is considered a food desert when at least 500 people, or 33% of the area population, lives more than one mile away from a supermarket or large grocery store.
Residents without transportation were left with 7-Eleven or Family Dollar for their grocery needs.
So, they took action. The Montbello Organizing Committee, a neighborhood group focused on food justice, housing and community wealth building, started engaging with residents, trying to figure out how they can solve their food insecurity issues, as well as their affordable housing problems.
The key phrase is how "they" could figure out how to solve their own problem. As a historically underserved neighborhood, Montbello residents knew if they wanted a grocery store or housing or any time of service to better their neighborhood, they would have to bring it themselves.
"Something is not better than nothing," said Donna Garnett, the executive director of the Montbello Organizing Committee. "That's what people of color and disenfranchised people have heard their whole lives and their grandmas have heard that. Here are the scraps. Be happy with that. And that won't work for me anymore.... We are in a position to help manifest the dreams of the people who live here."
Thus the idea for the FreshLo Hub was born. The goal was to create a one-stop mixed-use development with housing, a grocery store and a community space.
"This is what the community dreamt and this is what we're building," said Garnett.
MOC purchased the former Montbello Park-n-Ride, a 1.39-acre lot at 12300 East Albrook Dr., in February 2020. They applied for and received grants, investments and tax credits. Some of that funding was from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation and the Gates Family Foundation, among others. The last bit of funding came in 2022 when City Council approved a $3.3 million loan agreement between the the Department of Housing and Stability and Montbello Organizing Committee.
The construction of the project started last year in March and Denverite recently took a tour of the facility. Here's what we saw...
There will be plenty of parking, along with electric vehicle charging stations, with the possibility of adding additional stations in the future.
On the first floor, one side will be for MOC's business incubator. MOC's Building Wealth from Within program is a 12-week program geared towards helping residents grow their entrepreneurial skills. Graduates of the program will be able to set up shop inside the FreshLo Hub to continue growing their skills.
One of the anchor businesses will be La Dogueria owned by Miriam Quiroz, one of the first graduates of the Building Wealth program.
On the opposite side, WellPower, a mental health nonprofit, will have a space to provide residents and neighbors with their mental health needs.
The remaining five floors will house 97 units of affordable housing. There's a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for those making between 30% and 50% of the area median income. For a family of four, they would need to make between $37,230 and $62,050.
FreshLo is one of few affordable housing projects that includes many three-bedroom apartments. It was a necessity for community members.
"This project was really intended to address that lack of opportunity for people with families. It's a big deal for families," Garnett said.
Five of the units will be mobility compliant spaces for those with mobility needs and four units will be for those with hearing and visual impairments.
Many of the units will come with balconies and all of them will have washer and dryer units. Both items were "hotly contested" add-ons, according to Garnett.
Garnett said when it comes to building affordable housing projects, many outside developers slack on amenities but that wouldn't be the case at FreshLo.
The second floor is full of amenities. There will be a gym and a community lounge where residents could have meetings, gather or just hang around. There's additional storage spaces for residents who need extra space. Then there's the outside space.
The second floor will have a whole outdoor deck, spanning the length of the building, equipped with a playground, a lounge space with fire pits and seating, grills, planter beds for residents interested in showcasing their green thumbs and a large movie screen.
The deck will be covered and faces the sun for a luxurious feel.
"It's my favorite place," Garnett said.
Garnett said construction is set to be completed in August and leasing will begin in the fall. When the time nears, MOC will be informing those interested in renting the apartments what the eligibility requirements will be and how they can apply.
Besides the apartment building, the site will have a separate building that will house the FreshLo Arts Education Center. It'll be a place for the community that they can rent and host events.
And what about the grocery store?
It'll be a 5,200-square-foot space in the strip mall next to the FreshLo site. MOC recently purchased the strip of stores in December to complete the project's goal of bringing a grocery store to the neighborhood.
"It became eminently clear that everything we were trying to put in this building could not be in this building. We could not do a two-story grocery store and an arts education center and the housing," Garnett said. "So, we reached out to the owner of the mall to see if they were interested in selling."
Many of the businesses in the center will remain including the coin laundry, which is a necessity in the neighborhood, and La Bocaza Mexican Grille. But at the end of the mall will be the grocery store run by the Daily Table, a Massachusetts based, nonprofit grocery chain founded by Doug Rauch, the former president of Trader Joe's. Their model involves sourcing excess foods from local growers, manufacturers, and other suppliers.
MOC hopes to open the store around the same time as the opening of FreshLo.
"When I see this, I think about what it might mean to a single mom that has two kids or an elderly couple that has now given their house to their children and they still want to stay in the neighborhood. It just makes me proud," Garnett said. "Everything is on time and on budget."
And there's more to come from MOC. Garnett said the organization has a 10-year plan that involves bringing more affordable housing to the neighborhood, along with community space.
Ultimately, it's all about what the community needs. The FreshLo project has been a community-driven project from the beginning and any other endeavors will be equally led by the community.
"Our little motto is development without displacement," Garnett said. "We're building this for the people who are dedicated to this community... Let's make it so that the people who have been in this community for generations can stay here. So, they can stay here. We have our eyes on some things."
