For years, residents of the former two-block-square East Village apartments just called their neighborhood “Five Points” or “the projects.”
Police calls were common, and law-abiding residents were often too scared to go outside.
“It was deplorable, unlivable, substandard housing,” said Stella Madrid, community affairs officer for the Denver Housing Authority. “They were subsidized units. Almost half were vacant, and residents were cannibalizing those for parts for other units.”
Now, the apartments have been torn down to make way for a $190 million development of 873 apartments, condos and townhouses that started going up in August on the northeast corner of Park Avenue West and Tremont Place.
Denver Housing Authority planners hope the new units will break the cycle of violence and crime in the area.
“I think it’s an exciting time for us with the overall redevelopment,” said Chris Parr, Denver Housing Authority development director. We’re trying to create something new here. We’re in the process of trying to turn a ship.”
Waiting to move back
Just how great a challenge the housing authority faces is obvious to senior Irene Griffin, who lives at the Barney Ford Heights senior and disabled apartment house two blocks away from the new construction. Drunks sometimes lie in the grass under the trees across the street from the cement patio where Griffin likes to sit when it’s nice outside.
“I don’t want to be around people who dope and drink,” said Griffin, a retiree who declined to give her age. “In the summer, I want to sit outside, and I want to feel safe.”
Many of the seniors at Barney Ford are temporary residents waiting to move back to Thomas Bean Tower, the only building not torn down at the site. They’re excited about the renovation going on at their old homes, which is expected to be finished in February.
“It should be really nice when they get done. I think it will work,” said Mary Parish, an 18-year resident of the tower who currently lives at Barney Ford Heights. “There’s nothing wrong with this neighborhood.”
Now that the entire block of the former East Village apartments has been demolished, nearby residents are starting to see the possibilities new construction may bring.
“It’s a good thing that they want to help this part of the neighborhood,” said Lovell Macklin, 51, who lives a couple of blocks away and is currently unemployed. “But we have to find these people jobs too.”
Johnny Mathis, 47, hopes all the new activity will be good for his home-improvement business. But rents are going up so fast nearby that many of the people he knows can’t afford to live in the area anymore, Mathis complained.
“If people are on Social Security, you have to give them somewhere to live,” Mathis said. “They’re pushing all the minorities out of here. You wonder why you got crime?”
About a third of the new units are planned to be market-rate condos, Parr said. Another third will be set aside for families that make up to 60 percent of the median area income of $69,900 for a family of four. The third group of units will be housing for people who receive federal assistance, he said.
Sense of community
“We’ll inject some life and light and energy back into it,” Parr said. “Residents will be able to say, ‘I’m an urban citizen.’ That’s what this is all about – urban living.”
Architects were careful to design the new apartments, condos and townhouses to give residents a sense of community and responsibility, Parr said.
Windows and patios look out over parking areas so residents can immediately see what’s going on, he said. Apartments will be grouped in clusters, rather than on long hallways, so that people know their neighbors, Parr said. Finally, residents on the public- housing end will have to get approval from the housing authority, and managers will be strict.
“It’s going to be a new population,” Parr said. “The unfavorable element filtered themselves out. We’ll be requalifying residents to get them back.”
The Safeway grocery store at East 20th Avenue and Washington Street is planning to stock a wider range of items, including more cheeses and high-end meats, to give more choices to the increased number of people expected to move in next door, said deli manager Mike Holman, 25.
“I think this will definitely bring change,” Holman said. “We’re just anticipating for it to open. With a more diverse group, we’ll sell a wider range of items.”
Others say site managers will have to be strict to keep the development from being taken over by criminals, however.
“I guess it’s good, because it’s mostly senior citizens,” said Rita Esparza, 50, a security guard at the Safeway shopping center. “But sometimes a senior citizen lets a family member into their home, and the family members are into something. I think it will make it better if they do a background check.”
Everyone who lived at East Village can move into the new apartments as long as they meet certain criteria, said Sal Carpio, Denver Housing Authority director. Residents must stay out of trouble with police and need to have a job, be in school or in some other program to better themselves, Parr said.
Carpio pointed to residents in new homes at nearby Lawrence and East 27th streets as proof that a neighborhood can be gentrified in a good way. That area of former public housing also was torn down and rebuilt by the housing authority with federal grants in the last couple of years.
“More persons of color are homeowners now,” Carpio said of those homes. “We didn’t turn it into a lily-white community. It’s a very diverse community.”
