Amidst Denver’s housing crunch, the Denver Housing Authority (DHA) is pioneering a solution: flipping vacant office spaces into vibrant apartment complexes. Their latest success story stands tall at 655 Broadway, where a former medical building has blossomed into a beacon of hope for seniors, disabled individuals, and formerly unhoused individuals.
This nine-story marvel boasts 96 affordable units, carefully crafted to accommodate the needs of its residents. Studios and one-bedrooms beckon, offering comfort and security at rents ranging from $950 to $1,250 with vouchers and government assistance. Notably, a portion of these units (36!) will be even more accessible, with rent pegged at just 30% of a resident’s income.
“Adaptive re-use of this scale, and with the added layer of this being a historic building, is highly complex. This project demonstrates what is possible when so many partners — a housing authority, a public hospital, lenders, contractors, and many, many more — come together for the purpose of delivering high-quality affordable housing and of preserving an iconic structure,” DHA officials said.
This transformation wasn’t merely a whim. It signifies a larger trend sweeping across Denver. With remote work reshaping the cityscape, vacant office buildings stand poised for a second act. Earlier this year, a study pinpointed 16 downtown candidates perfect for conversion, holding the potential to inject over 5,000 new units into the city’s core.
According to the Denverite, the “DHA acquired the building from Denver Health in May 2020 for $5 million. The project then received $18 million in housing tax credits from Enterprise Housing Credit Investments, an affordable housing nonprofit.”
