By Chanel Ward
Clínica Tepeyac, in Denver, Colorado, hosted a community meeting recently to update the community on their new location on 48th Ave. and Race St., that will allow Clínica to expand their services.
The evening kicked off with catered food from Comal Heritage Food Incubator and opening remarks and introductions from Dillon Baynes, Managing Director of Columbia Ventures, and Development Manager, Diana Stoian kicked off the evening.
“The financial closing is set to occur in May of 2020 and construction will begin shortly after that,” explained Stoian. “With a completion at the end of 2021, the construction process is going to take approximately 18 months.”
Erin Clark, Vice President of Master Site Development Urban Land Conservancy (ULC), a non-profit real estate organization, that will oversee the development of the 6-acre parcel and ULC.
“We purchase land in strategic locations and hold it for community benefit and only develop for community benefit. That is our entire mission,” said Clark, explaining ULC’s role in Clínica’s expansion.
“This property was purchased years ago, before the train came in, before National Western [Complex] really got going, before the Central I-70 project in anticipation of future displacement,” stated Clark, who is also a property owner and development partner. “So, we rezoned this property from industrial to residential, to allow for us to help try to mitigate some of that displacement,”
Clark broke it down in phases, “Phase one of the development that we’re working on now, we brought in Columbia Ventures to be the developer here, and we’re working with them on their overall master plan. This first phase will be 150 permanently affordable apartments on top of 24,500 sq. ft.
“We say it’s permanently affordable because it will be on a land lease with us, we, as a nonprofit are going to continue to own the land under this first phase of development,” said Clark.
Most impressive is the land lease itself. “The developer that will own the building, will then lease that land from us,” continued Clark, “so that allows us to require that the affordable housing that is in this development has to be affordable and remain affordable for 99 years, with a renewal option for another 99 years.”
The need for Clínica Tepeyac continues to grow and with the new location expansion, their possibilities are endless. To learn more about their services or become involved in future planning meetings, visit their website at ClinicaTepeyac.org. The Clinica is located at 5075 Lincoln St., Denver, CO 80216 or call
(303) 458-5302.
Chanel Ward is an Independent Reporter for The Weekly Issue/El Semanario.
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