A Denver company, in partnership with Durango housing officials, has been awarded a low-income housing tax credit to build a 50-unit apartment building at 32nd Street and East Animas Village Drive.
The $10 million project, known as East Animas Village Apartments, would have one- and two-bedroom apartments available to low-income earners. Rents would range from approximately $350 to $825 per month.
Advocates believe there is a critical need for affordable housing in Durango. La Plata County homes sold for an average of $315,000 during the most recent quarter. In-town Durango homes were even costlier, averaging $360,500, according to the Durango Area Association of Realtors.
The rental market has followed, with high rents and few vacancies.
“The need to construct more affordable rental units is astronomical in Durango,” Pam Miles, board chairwoman of the La Plata Homes Fund, said in a news release Thursday. “Those most impacted by the lack of affordable rentals are those most in need. This project will go a long way to meet that need.”
The site is zoned appropriately, but developers have yet to begin the approval process, said Greg Hoch, director of Community Development for the city of Durango. The property was annexed by the city in 2000.
“The land use and zoning was compatible with what they want to do,” Hoch said.
The developers are set to meet with city planners in November to learn about the city’s review and approval process, Hoch said.
“It’s a feather in the cap of the community to get that funding,” Hoch said. “It’s been quite a while since that funding was available to the city.”
Durango’s most recent affordable housing project was Piñon Terrace Family Community, a 66-unit development built at Three Springs in 2006-07.
The north Durango site for East Animas Village Apartments is near two low-income senior housing buildings owned by Volunteers of America. There is room on the site for an additional 40 units that could be built at a later date, Hoch said.
Developers plan to break ground next summer and open in 2015.
The apartments will be made available to households earning less than 60 percent of the area’s median income. Currently, that’s about $35,000 a year for a family of two.
The Durango rental market remains very tight.
The La Plata Homes Fund said the rental vacancy rate in Durango is at only 2 percent, down from 7 percent in 2010. As a result, median rents in Durango increased 13 percent from 2011 to 2012.
East Animas Village Apartments will be funded largely by a federal tax credit administered by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. The tax credit will be offered to investors and is worth about $7 million, said Bob Munroe, partner at Solvera Affordable Housing Advisors, the Denver-based developer.
A mortgage is expected to pay for approximately $2 million, and the balance is expected to come from additional government funding or Solvera’s own investment, Munroe said.
Solvera recently has built affordable housing projects in Lakewood, Westminster, Aurora and Boulder.
“We’re tickled to be down in Durango and really look forward to having the community benefit from this effort,” Munroe said.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
