July 12 , 2007

Contacts:
Erika Sauerwein, 303-625-1069

Lowry Housing Program Expands

Denver, CO -- The Lowry Community Land Trust, a nonprofit organization created by the Lowry Redevelopment Authority to administer workforce housing programs, has changed its name to Colorado Community Land Trust (CCLT) to reflect a new metro and statewide focus. CCLT is now partnering with developers, municipalities and nonprofit organizations to provide workforce housing across the metro area and eventually elsewhere in the state.

The organization also announces its first non-Lowry partnership with the City of Denver and Hope Communities for the delivery of the 31st Street Townhomes in Denver’s historic Five Points neighborhood. Located within a block from the 30th & Downing light rail station, the 31st Street Townhomes were completely rehabilitated by Hope Communities earlier this year. Each of the eight townhomes offers a two-story floor plan with three bedrooms and one bath. Prices start at $109,000. CCLT will manage the home sales.

"A sustainable and balanced market offers a wide range of housing types and prices, and the CCLT is providing an important segment of that,” said Kimball Crangle, executive director of CCLT. “We are providing homes for working people like teachers, medical professionals and their families. CCLT homes will always be affordably priced, and will give people the opportunity to live close to where they work.”

CCLT has sold 115 affordably priced homes in three neighborhoods at Lowry, including new townhomes, renovated townhomes and new single-family homes. Another 72 townhomes are currently under construction and being sold in Lowry’s last residential neighborhood, EastPark.

“The land trust model that was established at Lowry has proven to be a successful way to administer workforce housing,” said Tom Markham, executive director of the Lowry Redevelopment Authority. “Lowry is the success it is today in part because we made a sustained and concentrated effort to provide a full range of home types and prices."

Under the City of Denver’s inclusionary housing ordinance, developers who build more than 30 homes are required to provide 10 percent at affordable prices. Crangle said CCLT can serve as a development partner and manage that commitment.

"Developers can donate land or sell it at a reduced price, subsidize construction costs or take advantage of grants or other funding secured by CCLT,” Crangle said. “We are a very flexible and entrepreneurial development partner.”

For more information about CCLT, call 303-340-1954 or visit www.coloradoCLT.org.

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About the Lowry Redevelopment Authority: The Lowry Redevelopment Authority (LRA) is a non-profit, quasi-public organization established by the Cities of Denver and Aurora to redevelop the former Lowry Air Force Base. The LRA serves as master planner and developer of most of 1,866-acre Lowry site with responsibility for zoning, infrastructure improvements and real estate sales. It will disband when redevelopment is complete. Located in east Denver, Lowry is the nationally recognized model for military base redevelopment. Lowry now consists of 3,500 homes and apartments, more than 140 businesses, 13 schools and a pedestrian-friendly retail center. For more information, visit www.lowry.org.