CREJ - Multifamily Properties

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Page 18 — Multifamily Properties Quarterly — January 2015
includes 50 affordable units with
10-foot ceilings, glass-tile accents, a
community room with laptop com-
puters, freeWi-Fi, an exercise room,
a rooftop barbecue area and a shared
car for hourly rental. The building also
has 10,000 sf of commercial space.
The Avondale Apartments at Mile
High Vista is a seven-story building
containing 80 units, including one-,
two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Avondale is located near West Colfax
Avenue and Federal Boulevard. The
complex is a quarter-mile from two
light-rail stations, Knox and Decatur-
Federal.
Park Hill Station Apartments is cur-
rently under construction. There are
156 affordable apartments being con-
structed at the future Colorado Boule-
vard station on the East Rail commut-
er line. The East Rail line will connect
Union Station to Denver International
Airport and is scheduled to open in
early 2016.
TOD Fund goes regional
The Denver region continues to
undertake one of the nation’s largest
public transit expansions, adding new
light rail, commuter rail and bus rapid
transit lines to complement the exist-
ing pubic transit system. This expan-
sion brings opportunities for equitable
TOD throughout the region, well
beyond Denver city limits. At a recent
press conference,Weinig, along with
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and
many other partners, announced the
expansion of the TOD fund beyond
city limits. The Denver Regional
TOD Fund is a $24 million resource
that will be used throughout the
seven-county metro area, and is now
available to be used by any qualified
borrower with plans for affordable
housing preservation or development
near transit.
The fund ties directly into one of
the seven-county metro area's grow-
ing concerns – lack of affordable
rental apartment housing. According
to ULC, Colorado needs to produce
100,000 units to reach the demand
for affordable housing. The regional
fund should help to alleviate some of
that, but according to Bustos, there
is a need at the state level for a per-
manent affordable housing resource
that can truly support this gap. The
current goal of the regional fund is to
create and preserve 2,000 affordable
homes throughout a 10-year window
in the seven-county region.
Christi Craine, operations and com-
munications director at ULC, under-
stands the impact that this can have
on the state and the urgency with
which it must work to accomplish
its goals. “The build out of RTD’s Fas-
Tracks is creating a huge opportunity
right now,” said Craine. “It’s important
for ULC to pave the way in order for
these projects to be possible.”s
Photo courtesy: Del Norte Neighborhood Development
Avondale Apartments is in a centralized location near light rail and schools.
Photo courtesy: Del Norte Neighborhood Development
Park Hill Station will be the site of a future stop along Denver’s East Rail Line.