Fort Collins' first low-income workforce housing opens in Old Town

Pat Ferrier, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·5 min read

The first tenants of Oak 140 — the city's first affordable housing project targeted specifically to the workers who keep downtown businesses running — are just starting to move in.

While construction on the five-story, 79-unit apartment building has been underway since summer 2021, getting to this point has been decades in the making.

Located at the corner of Remington and Oak streets, the site was home to the Elks club for decades before being purchased by the Downtown Development Authority in 2008. The Elks moved to Mulberry Street, and the DDA razed the building. The land sat vacant while the DDA figured out the best use for the 22,400-square-foot site.

In 2019, as the DDA considered the need for affordable housing for downtown workers, Executive Director Matt Robenalt and then-board vice chair Jenny Schultz recommended partnering with Housing Catalyst to tap into its expertise in building affordable housing and securing public and private funding sources.

Studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments are available to people making between 30% and 80% of the area median income, with the overall income average of about 60% of AMI.

Fort Collins' AMI in 2022 was $75,200 for a single person. A person earning 30% of AMI would make roughly $24,800 and pay about $540 a month for a unit at Oak 140, said Kristin Fritz, Housing Catalyst's chief real estate officer.

When construction began, Housing Catalyst approximated households needed to earn $23.50 an hour — $48,880 a year — to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Fort Collins. It estimated 11,000 households were cost-burdened and spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

A newer one-bedroom apartment in Fort Collins can cost $1,600 a month or more.

The five-story building at 140 E. Oak St. has some apartments on the first floor, but most are on the third, fourth and fifth floors, with parking sandwiched in on the second level. A lobby and offices, including the property manager and Housing Catalyst's real estate development office, are on the first floor, along with an office owned by the DDA, which intends to find a tenant to lease the space.

Robenalt said the DDA is currently talking with a potential tenant but can't identify it yet.

Apartments are light and airy, range in size from 450 square feet for a one-bedroom to 610 square feet for a two-bedroom and come with full-size washer and dryer, microwave and full-size appliances, except for a smaller dishwasher.

Ceramic-looking antler light fixtures and sconces pay homage to the Elks' history at the site. With smaller units, the building has an expansive gathering space and outdoor deck with double-sided fireplace on the third floor, internal bike parking, dog washing station, fitness room and storage areas for each unit.

A one-bedroom unit is pictured in the new apartment building at 140 Oak St. on Thursday in downtown Fort Collins.
A one-bedroom unit is pictured in the new apartment building at 140 Oak St. on Thursday in downtown Fort Collins.

Of the 79 apartments, there are four studios, 58 one-bedroom and 17 two-bedroom units. Four units are accessible for people with disabilities. Twenty-nine units are for people making 50% and 29 for people earning 70% of the area median income.

Rents will range from about $511 to $1,367, depending on unit size and tenant's income. As of Thursday morning, a couple residents had already moved in and 13 more were scheduled to move in within the next few weeks, said Rachel Gaisford, Housing Catalyst's communications manager. Tenants pay their own gas and electric.

Lease-up will continue through the spring, and any apartments not filled from the interest list will be posted to Housing Catalyst's website.

Interest has been so high, Housing Catalyst has closed its interest list, she said. The list will likely reopen as Housing Catalyst contacts prospective tenants, some of whom may not meet the income guidelines or have found other housing, Fritz said.

An individual carries a box into a new apartment building, Oak 140, on Thursday in downtown Fort Collins. The 79-unit building, a partnership between Housing Catalyst and the Downtown Development Authority, is the first low-income housing tax credit project designed for workers in downtown.
An individual carries a box into a new apartment building, Oak 140, on Thursday in downtown Fort Collins. The 79-unit building, a partnership between Housing Catalyst and the Downtown Development Authority, is the first low-income housing tax credit project designed for workers in downtown.

The DDA's Robenalt said the project meets a longstanding need for workforce housing.

"It's much harder today for employees in the service industries to earn enough to live in Fort Collins, and when they can't, their options are often limited to living far outside of town and commuting to the downtown, which creates a list of challenges for the individual and for our community's transportation systems," he said.

"The DDA is elated to see the project reach the end of this long journey, and already we're hearing from downtown businesses that some of their staff members have received notification they were accepted as future residents," Robenalt said.

Funding for the $27.9 million project came primarily from 4% state and federal low-income housing tax credits; private activity bonds committed by the city of Fort Collins and Larimer County in 2019 and 2020; the DDA, including the $2.35 million land value and $1.48 million for commercial spaces; and the city's affordable housing capital fund.

The private activity bonds gave the county and city the authority to issue tax-exempt bonds for specific private-sector projects, most commonly affordable housing.

Hallways feature "porch lights" above doors in the new Oak 140 apartment building on Thursday in downtown Fort Collins.
Hallways feature "porch lights" above doors in the new Oak 140 apartment building on Thursday in downtown Fort Collins.

A little history

Since the DDA purchased the property, it has been used mostly as a staging area for downtown construction projects.

A YMCA opened on the site in 1907, and it later served as home to the Elks Lodge No. 804 for more than 60 years before the Elks moved to Mulberry Street and sold the building to the DDA for $2.8 million.

The DDA bought the site, intending to combine it with the Remington parking lot next door for a new downtown hotel and conference center that never materialized.

Now, with more hotels downtown and with housing affordability at a critical juncture, housing became a pressing need.

A person enters the Remington Street entrance of Oak 140, a recently constructed apartment building, on Thursday in downtown Fort Collins.
A person enters the Remington Street entrance of Oak 140, a recently constructed apartment building, on Thursday in downtown Fort Collins.

"One project does not entirely eliminate a wider community problem," Robenalt said, "but these 79 new qualified affordable apartments are creating the exact impact and outcome that was desired by the DDA when it made the decision to partner with Housing Catalyst several years ago.

"The journey has also taught us that working with a partner that shares similar values toward service to the community makes a strong foundation and great relationship that could spur us to work together in the future on another project."

Pat Ferrier is a senior reporter covering business, health care and growth issues in Northern Colorado. Contact her at patferrier@coloradoan.com. Please support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins' first low-income workforce housing opens in Old Town