Two Denver-based companies are teaming up to develop their second affordable senior-housing project near a light-rail station.
Mile High Development and Koelbel and Co. want to build a 60-unit senior apartment project on vacant land adjacent to University Station near Interstate 25 and University Boulevard.
The companies will co-develop the 24,000 square feet of land south of the station, and Koelbel will be the long-term owner of the apartment building, which will include an on-site leasing and management office and a community center for residents of the building and the surrounding neighborhood.
The $12.5 million project hinges on whether it receives low-income housing tax credits from the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. More than 20 projects are expected to apply for the funding by the Monday deadline.
“We think it’s a perfect fit for affordable housing,” said George Thorn of Mile High Development. “We hope to do more of these in the central Denver area that will have good access to light rail.”
Mile High is leasing 50 parking spaces in a 540-vehicle garage from the Regional Transportation District to serve the project.
It’s Thorn’s second stab at getting the tax credits for the site. Last year, he was denied tax credits to develop affordable workforce housing, rather than an affordable senior-housing project.
The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority is expected to make a decision on the tax credits in late April. If the project receives the tax credits, Thorn said he expects to break ground in spring 2012.
“Funding for 40 to 50 percent of the project comes in the form of the tax credit that we then have to go out into the capital markets and sell,” he said.
The project is similar to the senior-housing apartments that Thorn and Koelbel are working on at the Yale light-rail station. The 50-unit Apartments at Yale Station are expected to open in late July.
“We’re going to have two senior projects on light rail only two stops apart,” Thorn said.
The property at 5307 E. Yale Ave. also will include 3,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.
The project was one of five metro-area developments to receive a total of $4.43 million in low-income housing tax credits from the authority. Other funding is coming from private and public sources.
“We have 55 people on the waiting list for units at Yale and we haven’t started a marketing program yet,” said Carl Koelbel of Koelbel and Co.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
