RTD is helping turn old parking lots into new development spots.
Last last month, the transportation agency sold 2907-2915 Welton St., a nearly half-acre site in Five Points, for $1.5 million, or $80 a foot, according to public records.
The buyer, Denver-based Shanahan Development, will build a six-story, income-restricted condo building there.
“Just getting to this point was a feat in and of itself,” owner Jeff Shanahan said.
Construction will kick off in two weeks and wrap up in 18 months, Shanahan said.
RTD has been eyeing development of the site for close to 10 years. It initially selected a firm to build condos there in 2016, but that developer was “not able to actualize the vision for the site and the project was put on hold,” according to the agency’s website.
So, in 2021, it tried again, asking developers to bid on the project, and specifically that at least 25 percent of condos be income-restricted.
Shanahan is far exceeding that mark. All 62 units in its building will be reserved for those making up to 80 percent of the area median income. A third of the units will have three bedrooms. The rest will be one- and two-bedrooms. Parking spaces are guaranteed for every three-bedroom unit.
“From everything I read there’s an affordable housing crisis, so I wanted to go 100 percent (income-restricted),” Shanahan said.
The ground floor of the building will have some commercial space. Shanahan isn’t sure what will go there yet.
“It could be retail, it could be office — whatever’s allowed in the use,” he said. “It probably won’t be a restaurant because we didn’t design it with a grease trap.”
The project is also receiving some tax rebates as well. Approximately $2.2 million in property and sales taxes will be returned to the project through tax-increment financing. Once the building is constructed, Shanahan will sell the property to Denver nonprofit Elevation Community Land Trust. The trust will own the dirt and give 99-year ground leases to condo buyers in order to preserve the property’s income-restricted status.
“We’re trying to build equity in the community by doing homeownership,” Shanahan said.
RTD is helping turn old parking lots into new development spots.
Last last month, the transportation agency sold 2907-2915 Welton St., a nearly half-acre site in Five Points, for $1.5 million, or $80 a foot, according to public records.
The buyer, Denver-based Shanahan Development, will build a six-story, income-restricted condo building there.
“Just getting to this point was a feat in and of itself,” owner Jeff Shanahan said.
Construction will kick off in two weeks and wrap up in 18 months, Shanahan said.
RTD has been eyeing development of the site for close to 10 years. It initially selected a firm to build condos there in 2016, but that developer was “not able to actualize the vision for the site and the project was put on hold,” according to the agency’s website.
So, in 2021, it tried again, asking developers to bid on the project, and specifically that at least 25 percent of condos be income-restricted.
Shanahan is far exceeding that mark. All 62 units in its building will be reserved for those making up to 80 percent of the area median income. A third of the units will have three bedrooms. The rest will be one- and two-bedrooms. Parking spaces are guaranteed for every three-bedroom unit.
“From everything I read there’s an affordable housing crisis, so I wanted to go 100 percent (income-restricted),” Shanahan said.
The ground floor of the building will have some commercial space. Shanahan isn’t sure what will go there yet.
“It could be retail, it could be office — whatever’s allowed in the use,” he said. “It probably won’t be a restaurant because we didn’t design it with a grease trap.”
The project is also receiving some tax rebates as well. Approximately $2.2 million in property and sales taxes will be returned to the project through tax-increment financing. Once the building is constructed, Shanahan will sell the property to Denver nonprofit Elevation Community Land Trust. The trust will own the dirt and give 99-year ground leases to condo buyers in order to preserve the property’s income-restricted status.
“We’re trying to build equity in the community by doing homeownership,” Shanahan said.