Income-restricted developer has big plans near Mile High Stadium

The property, just a short walk to the football field, is home to an existing apartment complex. (Google Maps)

Rocky Mountain Communities wants to scrape and start over on 4.5 acres near Mile High Stadium.

Mark Marshall, CEO of the nonprofit apartment developer and manager, said his group is embarking on a four-phase redevelopment of the existing Townview Community along 17th Avenue and Grove and Hooker Streets a block west from the stadium. 

“Look across the state, and we’ve got this huge deficit of affordable housing …  “We’ve got to be growing, and we got to be participating as much as we can,” Marshall said.

The sprawling, garden-style apartments on the property were constructed in the early 1960s and hold 122 units . The site is shaped like a T; it includes a full block at 1600 Hooker St., and two smaller, quarter-block sized lots to the east and west. 

That’s “very low density,” Marshall said. 

RMC, who in 2023 rezoned the property to allow for up to five stories, will spend the next six years knocking down existing buildings and adding new ones to create 450 new income-restricted units. About 5,000 square feet of commercial space fronting 17th is being considered, too. Current residents will be able to return after construction. 

The existing Townview Community apartment complex as seen from 17th Avenue. (Google Maps)

If all goes accordingly, the first apartments will be opened at the end of 2028. 

“We probably have in the range of minimum four or five, sometimes six sources [of funding] that we’re bringing in from various state credits, municipal grant money, federal grant money. So getting all those lined up takes a little bit of time,” Marshall said. 

RMC has owned the site since 1997, when it purchased it for $2.4 million, public records show. 

The nonprofit, founded in 1992, has traditionally been a manager and owner of income-restricted properties. Under Marshall, whose worked there since 2019 and been its CEO since 2023, the nonprofit is becoming more focused on development. Projects span Denver’s Globeville neighborhood to Fort Morgan, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

It owns 10 apartment complexes and helps manage another four, from Grand Junction to Greeley, per RMC’s website. Marshall said he’s growing the nonprofit’s “pretty old” portfolio by purchasing buildings that are reaching the end of their “compliance period.” That’s when apartments financed with tax credits are no longer required to be income restricted, which is generally 15 years after construction, depending on the development. 

“We keep an eye on those properties that are at risk of being sold to the market,” Marshall said.

RMC reported having $141 million in total assets in its 2023 annual report. The organization brought in $18 million in revenue that year, 88 percent of which came from rental income.