The Denver Housing Authority (DHA), Denver City Council President Jamie Torres and other strategic partners broke ground today on Phase 3 of the Sun Valley neighborhood.
“We’re proud to celebrate the transformational revitalization underway in Sun Valley, providing housing stability and economic opportunity for current and future generations,” Mayor Mike Johnston said. “All Denverites deserve to live in the city they serve with attainable, affordable housing, and this game-changing effort is delivering the type of innovative, mixed-income community where everyone can thrive.”
“This is the final phase of our plan in revitalizing Sun Valley, a geographically central Denver neighborhood that was once home to some of the city’s most vulnerable residents,” Joshua Crawley, interim chief executive officer added. “DHA has completed Phase 1 and 2, and with Phase 3 we will have leveraged a $30M Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant, awarded by HUD in 2016, into over $375M of new development replacing 333 obsolete Sun Valley homes with 759 residential units across six multifamily structures serving residents earning between 20%-100% of the area median income (AMI).”
The redevelopment will include Joli, Sol and Flo. Joli and Sol are mixed-income communities, where the Joli property will also host The Food Incubator project which is designed to provide education to residents of the community who are interested in exploring entrepreneurial career paths. Flo will be the last in this phase to begin construction and is a 12-story high rise; catering to the neighborhood’s 62+ and non-senior disabled population, completing the Choice Neighborhoods community. Joli will offer 80 affordable units made up of 30 one-bedroom units, 27 two-bedroom units, 11 three-bedroom units, 10 four-bedroom units, and two five-bedroom units. The Sol development will include 132 affordable units, 19 one-bedroom units, 68 two-bedroom units, 25 three-bedroom units, and 20 four-bedroom units. And the Flo development will feature 212 affordable units for Seniors (age 62+) and disabled (18+) individuals that include 202 one-bedroom and 10 two-
bedroom units.
Other planned projects for the neighborhood focus on Sun Valley’s unique challenges and celebrate its international culture which boasts residents speaking more than 35 different languages. These initiatives include a Community Grow Garden, a partnership between DHA and Denver Botanic Gardens to bring fresh produce directly to the community, and a Riverfront Park that will encourage recreational activities in a community space open to all.
The Riverfront Park project is being developed by DHA through an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with the City and County of Denver and supports the vision to revitalize and energize the South Platte River.
Strategic partners helping to redevelop the Sun Valley neighborhood include general contractor Shaw Builders and OZ Architecture building Joli, general contractor I-Kota and Studio 646 Architecture building Sol, and general contractor Shaw Builders and OZ Architecture building Flo. The 13th Avenue Realignment Infrastructure and the Sun Valley Redevelopment Infrastructure team includes general contractor Pinkard Construction along with architect Matrix Design Group.
