Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, left, and District 9 City Councilman Darrell Watson, second from left, have a conversation with homeless activist Caryn Sodaro, right, as they visit an encampment on Stout Street near 22nd St on Aug. 3, 2023, in Denver. (Kathryn Scott/Special to The Denver Post)
No private properties remain on the list of Denver sites that may soon house the homeless.
Two-and-a-half months after naming 11 such sites around Denver, Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration has said it will not move forward with three of the properties, which had been the only privately owned sites.
The properties that remain are either owned by the city, the Colorado Department of Transportation or quasi-municipal entities Denver Health and the Denver Housing Authority.
The city intends to create “micro-communities” on most of the properties, with individuals housed in pallet shelters or other basic structures. A handful of the sites have older hotel buildings on them where the city would house people. Since the 11 sites were named, the city has also agreed to lease another hotel, which will be owned by a nonprofit buying it specifically to rent to Denver.
Johnston, who took office in July, made addressing homelessness a signature issue, pledging to house 1,000 people by year-end. When his administration named the 11 sites in August, it said they were still being evaluated and the city was still looking for additional sites.
Private ownership is the main thing that links the three sites that have been nixed, but a spokesperson for Denver’s Homelessness Resolution Operations Center said it was “not a major factor in any of these decisions.” The sites also all faced an element of neighborhood opposition, but that has been true for publicly owned sites as well.
The spokesperson attributed the decisions to “a variety of factors that include a combination of logistical and operational challenges.”
The parking lot at 1199 N. Bannock St. was the first to be nixed, in mid-October. Golden Triangle residents had questioned why theirs was the only neighborhood to be the site of two proposed communities. A city-owned lot at 1375 N. Elati St. was also on the list.
The Bannock lot is owned by Denver-based Urban Villages, which proposed a 30-story residential project at the site back in 2021. For now, it sits undeveloped, with the company having demolished the office buildings that used to be there.
In early November, the Johnston administration decided not to move forward with a second site — 5500 E. Yale Ave. in University Hills. That property, which has an older office building with tenants in it, is owned by Denver-based Columbia Group.
Fred Glick, an executive with the firm, told BusinessDen in August that Columbia bought it intending to redevelop the site. The firm paid $4 million in June 2022, records show.
Glick said Monday that Columbia didn’t really hear from the city between being named a potential site and when the decision was made not to move forward. The company got the same notice neighbors did about that decision.
“We found out about being pulled off the list the same way everybody else did,” Glick said.
The final private property on the list, at 1380 S. Birch St. in Virginia Village, was nixed last week. The undeveloped site is largely surrounded by single-family homes, although it’s across the street from the former CDOT headquarters site, where a King Soopers grocery store is part of the redevelopment plans.
The lot is owned by Krisana GP LLC, a partnership between Denver-based Kentro Group and Centennial-based Lexton McDermott. Across the street, on another portion of the former CDOT site, the two firms are building a 151-unit apartment complex called Krisana that will be reserved for those making up to 60 percent of the area median income.
Kentro executive Jimmy Balafas told BusinessDen Monday “the city terminated negotiations” for a micro-community at 1380 S. Birch St., which the partnership had volunteered as an option.
“We didn’t have to make a decision,” Balafas said. “The city made it for us.”
Balafas said Kentro and Lexton McDermott have a deal to build 150 income-restricted housing units on the former CDOT site, and originally planned to build 30 units on 1380 S. Birch St. and 120 units across the street at 4343 E. Arkansas Ave., where the Krisana building is going up now. But Balafas said recent changes to city development regulations allowed the Krisana building to be built taller, allowing all 150 units to go on that property.
Kentro is now determining what to do with 1380 S. Birch St., Balafas said.
“We’re at the drawing board again,” he said.
Denver’s Homelessness Resolution Operations Center said in a statement to BusinessDen Monday that the city is definitely moving forward with three sites: CDOT property at 2301 S. Santa Fe Drive, city property at 12033 E. 38th Ave. and city property at 1375 N. Elati St. The other sites are still being evaluated.
“The City is constantly looking for additional sites, including sites that are privately owned,” the center said. “As we identify new viable sites, we will continue to announce them through a public process.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, left, and District 9 City Councilman Darrell Watson, second from left, have a conversation with homeless activist Caryn Sodaro, right, as they visit an encampment on Stout Street near 22nd St on Aug. 3, 2023, in Denver. (Kathryn Scott/Special to The Denver Post)
No private properties remain on the list of Denver sites that may soon house the homeless.
Two-and-a-half months after naming 11 such sites around Denver, Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration has said it will not move forward with three of the properties, which had been the only privately owned sites.
The properties that remain are either owned by the city, the Colorado Department of Transportation or quasi-municipal entities Denver Health and the Denver Housing Authority.
The city intends to create “micro-communities” on most of the properties, with individuals housed in pallet shelters or other basic structures. A handful of the sites have older hotel buildings on them where the city would house people. Since the 11 sites were named, the city has also agreed to lease another hotel, which will be owned by a nonprofit buying it specifically to rent to Denver.
Johnston, who took office in July, made addressing homelessness a signature issue, pledging to house 1,000 people by year-end. When his administration named the 11 sites in August, it said they were still being evaluated and the city was still looking for additional sites.
Private ownership is the main thing that links the three sites that have been nixed, but a spokesperson for Denver’s Homelessness Resolution Operations Center said it was “not a major factor in any of these decisions.” The sites also all faced an element of neighborhood opposition, but that has been true for publicly owned sites as well.
The spokesperson attributed the decisions to “a variety of factors that include a combination of logistical and operational challenges.”
The parking lot at 1199 N. Bannock St. was the first to be nixed, in mid-October. Golden Triangle residents had questioned why theirs was the only neighborhood to be the site of two proposed communities. A city-owned lot at 1375 N. Elati St. was also on the list.
The Bannock lot is owned by Denver-based Urban Villages, which proposed a 30-story residential project at the site back in 2021. For now, it sits undeveloped, with the company having demolished the office buildings that used to be there.
In early November, the Johnston administration decided not to move forward with a second site — 5500 E. Yale Ave. in University Hills. That property, which has an older office building with tenants in it, is owned by Denver-based Columbia Group.
Fred Glick, an executive with the firm, told BusinessDen in August that Columbia bought it intending to redevelop the site. The firm paid $4 million in June 2022, records show.
Glick said Monday that Columbia didn’t really hear from the city between being named a potential site and when the decision was made not to move forward. The company got the same notice neighbors did about that decision.
“We found out about being pulled off the list the same way everybody else did,” Glick said.
The final private property on the list, at 1380 S. Birch St. in Virginia Village, was nixed last week. The undeveloped site is largely surrounded by single-family homes, although it’s across the street from the former CDOT headquarters site, where a King Soopers grocery store is part of the redevelopment plans.
The lot is owned by Krisana GP LLC, a partnership between Denver-based Kentro Group and Centennial-based Lexton McDermott. Across the street, on another portion of the former CDOT site, the two firms are building a 151-unit apartment complex called Krisana that will be reserved for those making up to 60 percent of the area median income.
Kentro executive Jimmy Balafas told BusinessDen Monday “the city terminated negotiations” for a micro-community at 1380 S. Birch St., which the partnership had volunteered as an option.
“We didn’t have to make a decision,” Balafas said. “The city made it for us.”
Balafas said Kentro and Lexton McDermott have a deal to build 150 income-restricted housing units on the former CDOT site, and originally planned to build 30 units on 1380 S. Birch St. and 120 units across the street at 4343 E. Arkansas Ave., where the Krisana building is going up now. But Balafas said recent changes to city development regulations allowed the Krisana building to be built taller, allowing all 150 units to go on that property.
Kentro is now determining what to do with 1380 S. Birch St., Balafas said.
“We’re at the drawing board again,” he said.
Denver’s Homelessness Resolution Operations Center said in a statement to BusinessDen Monday that the city is definitely moving forward with three sites: CDOT property at 2301 S. Santa Fe Drive, city property at 12033 E. 38th Ave. and city property at 1375 N. Elati St. The other sites are still being evaluated.
“The City is constantly looking for additional sites, including sites that are privately owned,” the center said. “As we identify new viable sites, we will continue to announce them through a public process.”
