Buyers with neighborhood ties get priority in Five Points affordable condos

More opportunities for home ownership are coming downtown. Affordable condos are planned for Denver's historic Five Points neighborhood. The upcoming project at 29th and Welton Street will transform an RTD parking lot into much-needed housing.

The new development is named after Hattie McDaniel, the first African American woman to win an Oscar, and will have 62 affordable units. It's built in partnership with the city, RTD, Shanahan Development and Elevation Community Land Trust.

Stefka Fanchi, President and CEO of Elevation Community Land Trust, says their goal is to provide permanently affordable homeownership opportunities. Another development added more than 40 affordable condos to Five Points this year.

"We utilize the community land trust model," Fanchi said. "This model emerged from the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s when a group of sharecroppers in the rural South, after being displaced for registering to vote, came together to purchase land communally. They built homes on this land but did not own the land itself. This model allowed them to secure housing while keeping the land under communal ownership."

Elevation Community Land Trust maintains ownership of the land beneath their properties, which helps keep housing costs affordable. This structure ensures that the cost of land does not inflate the price of the home and that homes remain accessible to low- and moderate-income buyers even as they are resold.

Plans call for the ECLT to lease the land and ground floor community space to the homeowner's association on a renewable 99-year land lease.

Buyers earning up to 80% of the median area income, or up to $71,900 for a single-person household and up to $92,400 for a three-person family, are eligible.

In what was one of the country's fastest gentrifying areas, priority will be given to buyers with area ties through the Neighborhood Investment Program.

"Our goal is to create homes that allow families with historical ties to the community to return and become part of the neighborhood's fabric again," said Fanchi. "Either folks that currently live, work or have their children enrolled in school there, or whose parents or grandparents used to live there and were displaced."

Elevation Community Land Trust is finalizing plans for this project, including securing tax increment financing through the Denver Urban Renewal Authority. This financing approach leverages the increase in property taxes generated by new homeowners to fund the development.

"It's a unique approach to funding that allows us to build high-quality homes while ensuring affordability," Fanchi said.

With the necessary approvals in place, groundbreaking could occur within the next few months, with construction expected to take between one to one-and-a-half years.

"We are hopeful that by 2026, we will bring over 100 new homes available in Five Points," Fanchi said.