The
Empowerment Program broke ground this week on Odyssey Family Residences, a $7 million project that will include 36 one- and two-bedroom apartments targeting female veterans.
The three-story complex, which will allow children and pets, will be located on the site of the historic Elyria Elementary School at 47th and High Streets in north Denver near the National Western Stock Show.
The Empowerment Program, which provides services to disadvantaged women, will own and manage the complex. The non-profit owns five other residential properties in Denver and has provided job training and other services to women for more than 26 years.
“We’re targeting women veterans,” says Jim Mercado of J. Mercado & Associates Inc. Mercardo is developing the project for The Empowerment Program, in conjunction with Community Capital Corp. “If we don’t fill the units with veterans, we have other women The Empowerment Program serves.”
The existing 6,000-square-foot school building, the former home of the
Su Teatro theater now located on Santa Fe Drive, will be renovated for programs such as job training and case management to support residents in apartments adjacent to the school.
The project, expected to be completed next fall, has received an allocation of $5.3 million in nine percent housing tax credits, to be matched with $630,000 of state and city HOME funds. The project also received a $196,000 HUD grant through Denver’s Road Home.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.