Urban Land Conservancy (ULC) works to help make affordable real estate options available for the Denver Metro area and the greater Front Range. We acquire, develop, and preserve physical assets and partner with neighborhoods to help meet their critical community needs. 

One of the vibrant communities ULC is proud to partner with is the Santa Fe Arts District.

Santa Fe Ten

In 2011, ULC acquired Santa Fe Ten to preserve affordable housing and community serving retail space in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. The site includes 16 permanently affordable apartments, and over 7,400 square feet of retail space, and is home to several tenants including Knotty Tie.

La Tela

ULC purchased land to develop 92 permanently affordable for-sale condos by Elevation Community Land Trust (ECLT). Located along a high-frequency bus route, this land is a unique opportunity to create affordable home ownership in Denver. ECLT purchased the land from ULC, broke ground in July of 2020, and will finalize construction by mid-2021. Teachers and individuals that work in schools will be given priority to purchase these affordable condos.

The La Tela condos are income restricted exclusively for households earning up to 80 percent of the area median income (up to $54,950 for a single-person household, or up to $78,500 for a four-person household). Through a land trust model, homeowners purchase the improvements and ECLT will maintain ownership of the land, leasing it back to owners under a 99-year renewable land lease to maintain permanent affordability.

“The opportunity to own a part of your community, to have a stable home, and to begin to grow generational wealth is a cornerstone of equity,” according to Stefka Fanchi, President & CEO of Elevation Community Land Trust. “At La Tela, 92 households, composed of nearly 150 people, will realize this opportunity and I can’t wait to see where it takes them.”

La Tela is the latest city-supported affordable housing development to break ground in Denver. A total of 1,955 affordable units that have received city financing are currently under construction and an additional 1,284 income-restricted units are in the planning stage.