A Denver neighborhood with a poverty rate substantially higher than the rest of the city may soon see the construction of a new multi-purpose project that will most importantly include a grocery store.
Plans have now been submitted to the City of Denver for a complex that will also include up to 200 affordable residential units, as well as a coffee shop and library.
The project will go up in the Globeville neighborhood on a 2.7-acre site at 4995 N. Washington Street, around 5 miles to the north of downtown Denver. That site for decades has served as the home to a series of car dealerships.
The City purchased the property for around $6 million some four years ago and has since been engaged in efforts to redevelop the site for its affordable housing potential.
Late last year, an agreement was reached between Denver’s Department of Housing Stability and Department of Finance with the Globeville Redevelopment Partners, also of Denver, to build three-and four-bedroom units, along with community meeting space.
Globeville Redevelopment is a partnership between the affordable housing development company Rocky Mountain Communities of Denver and the Chicago-based Evergreen Real Estate Group.
The inclusion of the grocery store in the project is particularly important to area residents. A historic neighborhood dating to the 1880s, Globeville has been defined as a food desert. That designation comes if more than a third of a given area’s population lives more than a mile away from a large grocery store or supermarket.
Food deserts impact the health of communities simply because they lack produce and natural food offerings for surrounding residents.
By Garry Boulard
