A Denver sustainable real estate development company is in line to receive up to $5 million in state support for a project that will see the building of 158 new affordable rental apartments.
The project by Zocalo Community Development will go up at 1600 Newton Street in the Sloan’s Lake section of the city, roughly three miles to the west of downtown Denver, and will be built for residents earning anywhere from 30% to 60% of area median income.
Set for construction in a neighborhood of more than 50-year-old homes, the project will include a community room, exercise room, two elevators, and a laundry room on each level of the four-story building.
As designed by the Denver-based firm of J G Architects, the building will have a block-like modern design, with the site itself bordered by trees on both Newton Street and adjacent 16th Street.
The structure will be built to National Green Building Standards and will include an all-electric building-wide heating and cooling system.
The $5 million in funding belongs to the Colorado’s Department of Local Affairs, which provides support for affordable housing projects throughout the state.
Zocalo was launched in 2005 and bills itself as a development company that connects “social purpose with profitability to create communities where people connect.”
In 2019, the company took a four-story structure that had been built in 1907 and transformed it into what is today called The Quayle, a 102-unit affordable housing project. That structure, long neglected, had originally served as a hotel for itinerant workers.
Because Zocalo emphasizes a commercial component in its projects, The Quayle also included nearly 11,000 square feet of retail space.
By Garry Boulard