Prop 123 helps ULC preserve Liberty House for affordable housing

DENVER — Urban Land Conservancy has purchased the Liberty House Apartments site at 1500 Hooker St. in Denver’s West Colfax neighborhood, securing a long-vacant, fire-damaged property for a new chapter. ULC’s partners, Medici Communities and Atlantis Community Housing plan to redevelop the site into 62 permanently affordable homes, turning an idle building into long-term stability for a corridor that urgently needs housing.

The new apartments are expected to serve households earning roughly $33,000 to $67,000 a year, including residents with disabilities.

“We’re putting permanently affordable housing in a high-need area, which we were able to do with Prop 123 land-banking funds,” said Brad Dodson, ULC’s chief financial officer. “Those funds were critical to our ability to preserve this site before commercial developers could acquire it.”

With the land secured, ULC will now move into the long work of keeping it affordable. The site will be held through ULC’s community land trust, a tool designed to protect affordability across generations and ensure the property remains community-serving, not market-driven, for the next 99 years.