URBAN UPDATES
July | 2021
MDIF: A Resource for Investing in
Affordable Real Estate
To date, ULC has made more than 40 investments in affordable housing, office complexes, and campuses, including the former Johnson & Wales Campus. How do we fund these acquisitions in the costly Metro Denver regions? We use a revolving loan source called the Metro Denver Impact Facility (MDIF).

Here are eight facts about MDIF:

  1. MDIF was created in 2018. Prior to the facility, ULC made investments in the $15 million Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Fund and the $10 million Calvert Facility Fund, resulting in 12 acquisitions that preserved and created hundreds of units of affordable rental housing and hundreds of thousands of square feet of affordable office space and commercial space. 
  2. The purpose of MDIF is to support the creation and preservation of permanently affordable housing, community facilities, schools, and affordable commercial space in transit-accessible locations to improve the health and vitality of neighborhoods.
  3. ULC uses the Community Land Trust model in conjunction with MDIF to ensure the permanent affordability of multifamily housing, nonprofit commercial space, and schools.
  4. MDIF is modeled to finance property acquisitions with patient, low-interest capital for five or seven years as development, takeout, or permanent financing options are identified.
  5. Each acquisition is locally underwritten by FirstBank, which committed $25 million in loan capital for MDIF. Every junior loan is leveraged 100%, with FirstBank financing matching every impact investment loan made.
  6. MDIF's junior lenders are The Colorado Health Foundation, The Colorado Trust, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, Northern Trust, Gates Family Foundation, The Piton Foundation, and The Denver Foundation.
  7. To date, ULC has deployed $51.4 million from MDIF for community investments.
  8. ULC has used MDIF for nine acquisitions to date:
  • Adam's Tower and South Platte Crossing in Commerce City
  • Chesnut Lofts in Denver's Five Points Neighborhood
  • Harlan Nonprofit Center East and West in Lakewood
  • Hudson at the Holly in Denver's Northeast Park Hill Neighborhood
  • Johnson and Wales University Denver Campus in Denver's Park Hill Neighborhood
  • La Tela in Denver's Santa Fe Arts District
  • Westminster TOD I and TOD II in Westminster
  • 48th and Race TOD in Denver's Elyria-Swansea Neighborhood

ULC's Community Land Trust in Action
ULC is thrilled to announce that the Center for African American Health has purchased the Hudson at the Holly building after moving in in February of 2020.

When the Roots Elementary School (Hudson Building) closed in 2019, ULC again partnered with Holly Area Redevelopment Program (HARP) to gather Requests for Statements of Interest to select a new community-serving organization to purchase and operate out of the building that met HARP’s Guiding Neighborhood Principles. ULC ensured community voices were a part of selecting the next owner by building HARP’s Guiding Neighborhood Principles into the ground lease with Roots Elementary School. This allowed ULC to guide negotiations with the construction financing lender for the building to respect the community’s desire to shift away from another charter school. HARP and the surrounding community chose The Center for African American Health (CAA Health) to move into the Hudson Building due to their longstanding commitment to Northeast Denver and focus on the African American community. 

“Without ULC’s community land trust and our ability to purchase the Hudson Building, we would not have been able to re-engage with the community to decide which nonprofit’s services would be most beneficial in this location,” says Erin Clark, ULC’s VP of Master Site Development. “In addition, ULC went the extra mile to ensure the building remained a community asset by working with lenders and purchasing the building to give CAA Health time to raise the capital required for the purchase. This is a critical story about partnership, creativity, commitment to community needs, and the importance of community land trusts in meeting those goals.”
Community Spotlight: Thriftway Gardens
Join the Westwood Neighbors and ULC!
 
July 17, 2021
Thriftway Park (4401 Morrison Road)
9:00 - 11:00 am
When ULC acquired Thriftway in the Westwood neighborhood in 2014, it was an unsafe, vacant building requiring demolition. Later the same year, ULC demolished the building and began extensive engagement with residents and other stakeholders, including Westwood Unidos, to determine an interim use of the land while ULC planned for long-term development. In 2016, ULC completed the construction of a pocket park, community garden, and futsal court. Now, the ULC community and Westwood neighbors are gathering to celebrate the garden’s role in providing fresh vegetables to the neighborhood residents. 

Please join us for a summer cleaning of the park and a discussion of its history and future!
Thanks Energy Outreach Colorado!
ULC would like to extend our thanks to Energy Outreach Colorado (EOC) for a recent grant that will allow us to conduct an energy upgrade lighting retrofit at the Harlan Nonprofit Center. We are grateful for EOC's longstanding partnership and shared commitment to creating a sustainable future. If you are a mission-minded organization seeking office space, check out our openings at the Harlan! To learn more about Energy Outreach Colorado, click here.
Urban Land Conservancy | urbanlandc.org