Colorado Politics

Denver OKs $10.4 million contract to convert Clarion Hotel to housing units

The Denver City Council approved a $10.4 million contract with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless on Tuesday to support the city’s largest hotel conversion into housing and shelter so far.

The contract will pay off bridge financing the city used to purchase the Clarion Hotel in December 2022 and “(ensure) the site will provide shelter and/or housing for at least 60 years,” the city’s Department of Housing Stability said in a news release.

The project is being funded with American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

“Housing opportunities like Renewal Village make a huge difference in our work to scale up our homelessness response to meet the needs of our community,” Mayor Michael Hancock said in a news release. “We’re tremendously grateful for the Coalition’s work in bringing forward another key site to help stabilize the lives of those who will be to call it their home.”

The Department of Housing Stability acquired the nine-story hotel to provide 108 income-restricted rental studios and 107 single occupancy rooms for use as non-congregate shelter space. The property at 200 W. 48th Avenue will be renamed Renewal Village. Renovations are planned for later this year.

Rental studios will be available for people on restricted incomes who earn no more than 30% or 50% of the area median income. State vouchers will also allow the site to support people at the lowest income levels and those without income, the news release said. People who receive the vouchers will not pay more than 30% of their income on rent.

The latest funding follows other hotel conversion projects to provide “supportive” housing and family shelter.

The city department has also used $5 million in ARPA dollars to support the coalition’s acquisition of a former La Quinta Inn to provide 200 units of supportive housing, and another $9 million to acquire a hotel in northeast Denver. HOST also put $983,465 toward The Fax Partnership’s acquisition of two motels for family shelter and affordable housing.

“Through the conversion of Fusion Studios in 2019, we learned that we can bring housing resources to those that need them most at lower cost and in less time than it would take to build from the ground up,” Cathy Alderman, Chief Communications and Public Policy Officer for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, said in the news release.

The Denver City and County Building illuminated by a setting sun on Jan. 23, 2023. (Alex Edwards/The Denver Gazette)
ALEX EDWARDS/THE DENVER GAZETTE
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