South Denver Poised to Get Affordable Housing Project

A light rail station in south Denver is poised to become the nucleus of a new transit-oriented residential hub.

Davis Partnership Architects’ Guadalupe Cantu has filed an application to turn a Regional Transportation District parking lot at the agency’s Colorado station into nearly 200 units of affordable housing, the Denver Business Journal reported. It would replace 161 parking spaces at 4301 Evans Avenue with a nine-story apartment tower, leaving roughly 200 parking spaces for RTD riders.

Cantu is working in tandem with Kelly Pretzer, head of development and affordable housing for Denver-based BMC Investments, and George Thorn, founder and president of Mile High Development, both of whom are listed on the application, according to the Business Journal.

The proposed project, slated to rise at the corner of East Evans Avenue and South Ash Street next to a Public Storage facility, would feature 196 apartments across 225,700 square feet. Two-thirds of those units would be one-bedrooms and the remainder would be two-bedrooms. All apartments would be considered affordable. Low-income is generally defined as making 80 percent or less of the area median income; in Denver, that’s a maximum of about $71,900 for one person, per city government.

In addition to affordable units and proximity to transit and retail at Colorado Center across the street, the new development will feature amenities like bicycle storage, a fitness center, a clubhouse and an approximately 5,000-square-foot deck.

RTD purchased the approximately 4-acre parking lot in two separate deals in 2001 and 2002 for a combined $4.7 million.

The new proposed project isn’t the first to consider redeveloping RTD-owned land. In November, engineering and architecture firm Stantec submitted plans to the city of Denver to turn a vacant property next to RTD’s Civic Center Station transit hub into pickleball courts. That plan would also include a seating area, shade canopy and a movable shipping container kiosk for a pickleball attendant and storage, the Business Journal reported.

— Chris Malone Méndez