Many Denver Residents Have Never Even Heard of Sun Valley...Have You?
Meow Wolf kicked off 2018 with plans to invest roughly $50 million just outside of Sun Valley’s borders, but the nationally acclaimed art attraction is small potatoes relative to the Denver Housing Authority’s plans for the neighborhood. Buy tickets now.
DHA anticipates kicking off construction on the first two phases of its $240 million investment in Sun Valley later this year. The real estate community is watching, and some predict that the historically low-income, diverse neighborhood west of Interstate 25 will not experience quite the same transformation seen in rapidly gentrified areas of Five Points and elsewhere.
In fact, Denver Housing Authority officials talk about Sun Valley looking more like the renovated Mariposa District than RiNo, when all is said and done.
DHA and the Sun Valley EcoDistrict are serving as both vertical and master developers for the entire Sun Valley neighborhood, said Ryan Tobin, director of real estate development for the authority tasked with managing and building Denver’s affordable housing stock.
The organizations are working with the Denver Metropolitan Football Stadium District and Xcel Energy to better use underutilized facilities, as well as the parking lots near Mile High Stadium.
DHA plans to demolish and replace the 333 housing units near West 10th Avenue and Decatur Street with 750 new, mixed-income housing units. Roughly 20 percent of the new units will be market-rate, and 80 percent will be affordable to people earning 60 percent of the area median income or less.
Construction on the first phase of the project, an eight-story, 130-unit building near Decatur Street and West 13th Avenue, is expected to start in September. Shortly after, work on two six-story buildings at 10th Avenue and Decatur Street is expected to start in December. Phase two is expected to include 185 units.
Lisa Saenz lives in the community, serves as vice president of the Sun Valley Community Coalition, and works as a community coordinator for DHA. She said she feels confident about the future of Sun Valley since her community was able to be involved with the planning process.
“I just think when it's done, it’s going to be the best neighborhood in the city. That’s what I’m hoping for,” Saenz said. “It’s going to be more alive and look like the rest of the city, not so isolated and desolate. It’s going to be nice.”
