Event to promote downtown living
Lofts for $200,000 or less. Apartments for $1,000 a month and below. Downtown is not often thought of as the place to find affordable real estate, but the Downtown Denver Partnership is trying to change that perception. From 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, the nonprofit will stage a housing fair called “Real Prices for Real People” to promote the advantages of living in city-center neighborhoods. The free event will take place at Wynkoop Brewing Co., 1634 18th St. Visit www.downtowndenver.com or RSVP at 303-571-8207.
Dahlia Square redevelopment
The Denver Urban Renewal Authority is seeking qualified companies interested in redeveloping the 8-acre Dahlia Square property at East 33rd Avenue and Dahlia Street in northeast Denver. The site is being prepared for potential residential and/or commercial activity. Demolition of the site’s former shopping center and environmental cleanup are expected to be completed in fall 2006, and Denver Health’s Park Hill Family Health Center will return to the site. The deadline for Request for Proposal responses is Aug. 8. Details are available at http://denvergov.org/DURA/template320555.asp or at DURA, 1555 California St., Suite 200, Denver, CO 80202.
REIT adds to portfolio
Englewood-based Archstone-Smith Trust, a real estate investment trust with apartments from Southern California to Boston, acquired a 29-story building in San Francisco for $147.5 million, its first purchase in that city’s downtown. The building, Fox Plaza, is at Market and Polk streets and contains 444 apartments, 411 parking spaces, 238,559 square feet of office space and 17,483 square feet of retail space, Archstone-Smith said in a statement. The company’s Ameriton Properties unit will manage the property. The purchase fits the company’s strategy of acquiring properties in markets with limited competition and high single-family home prices, said chief executive Scot Sellers.
Mortgage rates keep rising but still attractive
Mortgage rates climbed last week but are still at levels that will keep the housing market hardy, analysts say. In its weekly survey, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.73 percent. That was up from the 5.66 percent rate registered for the week ended July 14. Below are average mortgage rates in Denver, Adams and Arapahoe counties as of Thursday and the previous 52 weeks. The one-year Treasury bill average reported by the Federal Reserve Bank is 3.52 percent. The Cost of Funds Index for May from the Federal Home Loan Bank (11th District) was 2.622 percent.
