TELLURIDE — Lance McDonald walks onto the sprawling new deck overlooking his town. “Look at this view,” he says, arms wide as he takes in the pink glow bouncing off the snowy peaks in the box canyon. “How nice would this have been when I first got here?” McDonald moved to Telluride in the late […]
affordable housing
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: The Millennial caucus just might have the solution to runaway gentrification
I’m pretty sure I unintentionally helped gentrify a neighborhood in the 1970s before gentrification was a word. My then-husband and I bought a house in a tired neighborhood in Vancouver, Wash., cleaned, painted and refurbished it, and sold it a year later for a 19 percent profit. That put another $6,000 in our pockets to […]
Posted inColoradans, Growth, News, Politics and Government
As development plans flood Denver’s poorest neighborhood, fear of gentrification lingers
Carolyn Chavez has called Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood home for 66 years. It’s where she raised six children, and eventually, five of her 10 grandchildren. For decades, she watched friends and family move elsewhere; neighborhood children go off to college or fall into the grips of addiction. She was there when the new Mile High […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News
Denver’s Westwood warily watches redevelopment happen. Can it stay true to its roots when gentrification looms?
Mayra Martinez can roll out of bed in an apartment that’s among the newest construction in Denver’s Westwood neighborhood and slip behind her desk at the law firm across the street in a matter of minutes. She pays a little over $1,000 a month for the one-bedroom space, utilities included. That’s a bargain in the […]
Posted inGrowth, News, Politics and Government
A study on gentrification made 12 recommendations for Denver. Three years later, here’s where the city stands.
More than two years after it issued its report, the city has implemented a variety of measures to address concerns identified in the study. Some programs, such as jobs associated with highway construction, fall under the purview of the state or another jurisdiction. The Sun asked the city’s Office of Economic Development for a […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News
Affordable housing crisis threatens vitality of Colorado’s high-country economies
VAIL — Willa Williford, an affordable housing consultant who has worked across Colorado’s high country, this week tallied some classified ads in the Crested Butte News. In Wednesday’s edition of her hometown paper there were 85 listings for jobs, from entry-level gigs to high-paying executive jobs. There were 11 listings for rental properties, most of […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Growth, News
Homes with no energy bills are catching on — even in Pueblo — and the extra cost isn’t as high as you’d think
A few months ago, Boulder resident David Resnick had an epiphany. Actually, his real estate broker, Thorne Davis, barraged him with emails, research and news stories about clean energy construction. Then the report arrived. The Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to a clean energy and low-carbon future, concluded that building net-zero energy houses — […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors
A roadside hotel in Eagle is being transformed into affordable homes — and other housing-strapped resort communities are watching
EAGLE — Hammocks stretch over the former poolroom turned yoga studio. A dog and bike wash station fills what was once a sauna. An amply couched nook, lined with old skis, has replaced the check-in desk. “A lot of what we are selling is the experience of living here,” says Kelly Herzog, the Eagle Valley […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Growth, News
Aspen’s workers are hitting retirement age. And that’s made the resort town’s employee housing program a ticking time bomb.
ASPEN — A surge of retirees in the nation’s most venerable and innovative resort-community affordable housing program is threatening to overwhelm 43 years of careful curation. It’s a demographic time bomb ticking inside Colorado’s priciest real estate market. “I’m hearing from business owners all over the place — restaurants, law offices, financial offices: ‘We can’t hire […]