Zephyr Line Apartments

Provider: St. Charles Town Company, LLC

Location: Lakewood, CO

Property Type: Family Housing

Units: 95

Description: Zephyr Line Apartments was completed in late fall of 2015. The General Contractor on this project was BC Builders.

• MLF made a $3.1 million “equity bridge” loan that covered construction costs in advance of the tax credit equity
• $16 million total development cost included construction and permanent financing from Wells Fargo, Citi, Mercy Loan Fund, Mile High Community Loan Fund, HOME, CDBG, and HUD 221(d)4 first mortgage.
• Jump-started rejuvenation efforts around Wadsworth light rail station.
• Ninety-five one-, two-, and three-bedroom units house families making up to 60% of the area median income.
• One of the first large projects to go through the City of Lakewood’s new form-based zoning process designed to retain historic sense of place.
• OZ Architecture designed the buildings to evoke the California Zephyr, a passenger rail service which has run between Chicago and San Francisco a few miles north of the site since 1949.
• Amenities include in-unit washers and dryers, club kitchen and lounge area, fitness center, and barbeque patio.

The transit-oriented Zephyr Line Apartments, with complex public-private financing in place, brings much-needed workforce housing to the 1.8-acre site at Zephyr Street and West 14th Avenue, two blocks northwest of the Wadsworth Station of the W light rail line.

Now, with the four-building community consists of 96 units for renters who earn 60% of the area median income. The apartments are for people with entry-level jobs and with families in mind. All of the two-bedroom units have two bathrooms and all of the units have washers and dryers.

The Zephyr Line Apartments not only provide much-needed housing to Lakewood, but will spur economic development and serve as a model for similar housing in the future.

It is described as ‘attainable housing,’ rather than affordable housing.  It is a part of a ‘continuum’ of housing alternatives for low and middle-income residents that ultimately could lead to home ownership.