February Partner Spotlight of the Month: Rick Garcia!
The Urban Land Conservancy (ULC) celebrates the achievements of its partnerships that create and preserve nonprofit facilities and affordable housing for communities in metro Denver. ULC’s Monthly Partner Spotlight is awarded to partners who demonstrate the value of collaboration, furthering our mission to improve the lives of Metro Denver residents through our real estate investments and community assets.
Congratulations to our February 2017 Partner Spotlight of the Month: Rick Garcia, Former Region VIII Administrator, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
As the former Regional Administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Region VIII, Rick Garcia has long been a champion for affordable housing, transit oriented development and equitable opportunities for all residents. During his six and a half year tenure with HUD, Garcia also served as Senior Advisor to the HUD Secretary on Sustainability, where he assisted in the department’s role in both the Federal Partnership on Sustainability, and the Sustainable Communities Initiative. Prior to joining HUD, Garcia was elected to the Denver City Council in 2003, where he represented District 1 until his appointment to HUD in 2010. Garcia has also served as an elected RTD Board Commissioner, Board Chair to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, Vice Chair of NEWSED Community Development Corporation, and is a founding Community Advisor to the University of Colorado’s Latino/a Research and Policy Center.
During his tenure on the Denver City Council, Garcia became heavily invested in equitable development along the West Transit Corridor of Denver, linking residential neighborhoods to employment hubs across the region. RTD’s W Line light rail officially opened in 2013, with five new stations connecting downtown Denver and Lakewood. Garcia focused on a site near two of these stations for a future development that would bring benefit to the community, Mile High Vista. This property was successfully acquired by ULC in 2011 largely due to Garcia’s vision for a library branch to be sited on the West Colfax Corridor, bringing a new urban resource to the community. Mile High Vista is now home to the Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales Denver Public Library as well as the Avondale Apartments, 80 units of permanently affordable rental apartments built by Del Norte and designed by Studio Completiva. ULC is currently determining what commercial use should be incorporated in the third and final phase of Mile High Vista.
ULC was able to complete a significant amount of pre-development work at Mile High Vista and many other transit oriented developments in Denver using the Housing Development Assistance Fund (HDAF), a $750,000 grant to ULC as part of the $2.9 million 2010 Community Challenge Planning Grant awarded to the City of Denver. This HUD grant was awarded during Garcia’s representation, in conjunction with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) TIGER II planning grants, and funds supported the construction of the W Line rail by integrating housing and commercial development with transportation planning.
“Supporting the predevelopment work on a property, such as environmental assessment and legal review is essential in getting successful community projects out of the ground,” states ULC President Aaron Miripol. “Thanks to the support of HUD/Rick, ULC was able to limit our predevelopment costs, allowing us to maximize the positive impact of Mile High Vista.”
Garcia continued playing a major role in west Denver development through 2016, as a crucial advocate for the $30 million federal grant from Department of Public Housing to the Denver Housing Authority (DHA). This is the largest grant DHA has received, and these funds will be used to build affordable mixed-income housing, an education hub, new parks, commercial space for small businesses and a healthy food market in Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood.
In November 2011, During Garcia’s tenure as the Region VII Administrator, the Sustainable Communities Partnership (a federal collaboration between HUD, Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency) awarded a $4.5 million Regional Planning Grant to the Denver region. Garcia played a major role in launching the Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI) grant program, a $250 million HUD program that shifted the image of the Federal agency to include broad redevelopment strategies to improve communities. The purpose of this funding was to help, “align investments, programs and policies to maximize the benefits that result from the region’s investment in transit.” HUD awarded $4.5 million to a consortium of stakeholders, led by the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), who served as the fiscal and administrative agent for the grant.
The SCI program was designed to help achieve the vision and principles through a series of coordinated activities including regional planning, corridor planning and technical assistance, corridor catalytic project development; stakeholder engagement and outreach, and an assessment of outcomes and knowledge sharing. The Regional Housing Strategy and Economic Strategy are informing DRCOG’s Metro Vision 2040 planning process and providing stakeholder and research data on two of the most challenging and interrelated issues affecting the Denver region: housing and economic vitality. Tangential to these issues, are the Healthy Communities and Boomer Bond initiatives which influenced conversations, stakeholder concerns and eventual outcomes in the planning processes of Metro Vision 2040. Corridor planning created transit networks to develop corridor visions, catalytic projects, and stakeholder engagement and implementation strategies in the East, Gold, Northwest and North Metro FasTracks corridors.
“The Sustainable Communities Initiative really changed the direction of how HUD invests in communities,” stated Rick Garcia. “These investments supported cities nationwide, both rural and urban, to strategically plan developments that improve access to affordable housing and jobs through increased transportation options and decreased transportation costs. This approach is how cities can make a true positive impact and provide opportunities for all residents to thrive.”
As of January 2017, Garcia completed his six and a half year term as Regional Director to HUD. The very same month, Garcia was appointed the role of Denver Public Library System Commissioner by Mayor Hancock, effective through August 2020. As he makes his transition, Garcia plans to remain active in the community, as he believes there is much to be done on a local level. We look forward to a continued partnership with Rick Garcia in his next role in the Denver, as he continues to make our city a more equitable and thriving community.