CHFA’s new CEO and executive director is Thomas Bryan. He’s been with the organization for over a decade. (BusinessDen illustration)
A key player in income-restricted apartment development has a new leader.
Thomas Bryan was named executive director and CEO of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority late last month. The quasi-governmental organization helps fund housing projects around the state.
“My emphasis will be to continue to serve the entire spectrum of housing that goes from homelessness all the way to home ownership,” Bryan said.
CHFA, headquartered across from Coors Field at 1981 Blake St., administers state and federal tax credits twice each year to income-restricted housing projects. It also helps other developers fill gaps in their funding to make the math work on building these projects. Last year, it lent out about $500 million for that purpose.
Even so, money is tight — and development is hard.
“For every four deals that come in, we can award one just because of the limited resources,” Bryan said.
“We’re looking for projects that are shovel-ready. We’re looking at cost containment as a factor. We want to allocate deals that have a pretty strong capital stack,” he added.
Bryan previously served as CHFA’s chief financial officer and director of accounting over an 11-year tenure. Before that, he worked in Centennial and Parker’s city halls, helping those municipalities with their finances and accounting.
“The affordable housing industry here in Colorado is amongst the best in the nation,” Bryan said. “I hear that time in and time out. CHFA plays a piece in that.”
The group is not a state agency, but follows governmental accounting standards. It has three main buckets of funding: tax credits, tax-exempt bonds and money from nonprofit and philanthropic foundations. It also assists those trying to buy homes, lending out $2 billion for that in 2024.
CHFA also has an economic development component, lending to nonprofits and for-profit businesses. It has unique programs for manufacturers, rural businesses and healthy food grocers.
But CHFA’s principal mandate is to get people in housing they can afford. And it looks like empty office buildings could soon be part of that. Last year, it awarded over $4 million in tax credits to an office-to-residential conversion project at 4340 S. Monaco St. in the Denver Tech Center.
That project by Shea Properties is slated to break ground this spring. It will be the first local office-to-residential project to begin since the pandemic shook up the office sector.
“It has to be part of the equation going forward if we want to build affordable housing,” Bryan said. “One of the biggest costs is land. There aren’t a lot of places to build, especially here in downtown Denver. So why would we not look at office conversions?”
CHFA’s new CEO and executive director is Thomas Bryan. He’s been with the organization for over a decade. (BusinessDen illustration)
A key player in income-restricted apartment development has a new leader.
Thomas Bryan was named executive director and CEO of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority late last month. The quasi-governmental organization helps fund housing projects around the state.
“My emphasis will be to continue to serve the entire spectrum of housing that goes from homelessness all the way to home ownership,” Bryan said.
CHFA, headquartered across from Coors Field at 1981 Blake St., administers state and federal tax credits twice each year to income-restricted housing projects. It also helps other developers fill gaps in their funding to make the math work on building these projects. Last year, it lent out about $500 million for that purpose.
Even so, money is tight — and development is hard.
“For every four deals that come in, we can award one just because of the limited resources,” Bryan said.
“We’re looking for projects that are shovel-ready. We’re looking at cost containment as a factor. We want to allocate deals that have a pretty strong capital stack,” he added.
Bryan previously served as CHFA’s chief financial officer and director of accounting over an 11-year tenure. Before that, he worked in Centennial and Parker’s city halls, helping those municipalities with their finances and accounting.
“The affordable housing industry here in Colorado is amongst the best in the nation,” Bryan said. “I hear that time in and time out. CHFA plays a piece in that.”
The group is not a state agency, but follows governmental accounting standards. It has three main buckets of funding: tax credits, tax-exempt bonds and money from nonprofit and philanthropic foundations. It also assists those trying to buy homes, lending out $2 billion for that in 2024.
CHFA also has an economic development component, lending to nonprofits and for-profit businesses. It has unique programs for manufacturers, rural businesses and healthy food grocers.
But CHFA’s principal mandate is to get people in housing they can afford. And it looks like empty office buildings could soon be part of that. Last year, it awarded over $4 million in tax credits to an office-to-residential conversion project at 4340 S. Monaco St. in the Denver Tech Center.
That project by Shea Properties is slated to break ground this spring. It will be the first local office-to-residential project to begin since the pandemic shook up the office sector.
“It has to be part of the equation going forward if we want to build affordable housing,” Bryan said. “One of the biggest costs is land. There aren’t a lot of places to build, especially here in downtown Denver. So why would we not look at office conversions?”
