It's important to have a mix of income groups to avoid high crime and other social ills, which can occur in developments that are solely occupied by low-income renters, says Jennifer Moulton, Denver's director of planning. "John Parvensky is one of the most tenacious people I have ever met in my life and just a superb advocate for this type of housing," Moulton tells GlobeSt.com. "But it absolutely helps to have a mix of low-income people with others."
Parvensky thinks Off Broadway will provide the right mix and the Downtown workers will provide a good role model for the homeless. He tells GlobeSt.com he also would have liked to have provided market-rate rents, but couldn't build enough units to make it work. As it is, he needed a variance from the city to allow less parking than is normally required. Downtown has lost 3,000 affordable housing units during the past 20 years, so there's a great need for affordable housing, he says.
Monthly rents at Off Broadway will range from $275 to $600 per month. The project is scheduled to open in November and the coalition will start accepting reservations in May or June. Parvensky says he expects no problems in finding tenants.
US Bank is providing the construction financing. The project also has received funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the city of Denver, Commercial Federal Bank and the Colorado Division of Housing. Off Broadway will also receive tax credits through the Colorado Housing Finance Authority.
Denver-based Humphries Poli Architects has designed the units so exteriors resemble more expensive lofts in nearby lower Downtown. Passersby will have trouble distinguishing the project from ultra-expensive LoDo lofts, although they will be somewhat smaller and interior finishing will not be as elaborate, he says. Units will range in size from about 450 sf to 950 sf. The project also includes a two-story parking garage, enclosed courtyard and 4,000 sf of retail and office space. Turner Construction Co. is the general contractor.
Parvensky says he would like to do similar projects in the metro area. But, rising land costs make that difficult. "It took us two years to buy this land and in the two years since we bought it, the land has more than doubled in value," he tells GlobeSt.com.
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