HABITAT FOR HUMANITY PLANS HOMES ON CHURCH PROPERTY
Faithpoint Church to offer 3.6-acre field for project
Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley wants to bring more affordable housing to Longmont by partnering with Faithpoint Church on a new neighborhood project near the intersection of 15th Avenue and Terry Street.
The project is expected to be between 28 and 32 homes built on roughly 3.6 acres of land at 833 15th Ave., which is currently an empty grass field next to the church. The site is expected to be a residential neighborhood with two-story duplexes and a few small parks.
David Emerson, executive director of St. Vrain Habitat, said that the nonprofit group’s role as a Christian ministry makes this partnership with Faithpoint Church a “good match.”
“I think it’s a big win for us,” Emerson said of the project. “It’s kind of at a level that’s not enormous in terms of the number of units, but it’s bigger than doing one or two or five houses at a time. It really just builds for the future.”
Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit group that seeks to increase access to home ownership in local communities. St. Vrain Habitat builds homes within the St. Vrain Valley School District as well as in Estes Park.
Emerson said St. Vrain Habitat primarily serves residents who are basic service providers, particularly education and healthcare workers, by giving them opportunities for home ownership.
“For (people) in those industries, a lot of them can neither afford the rent in Longmont or, certainly not purchase a home,”
Emerson said. “Our homes are really the only homes that are priced and financed at a level that are affordable for our home owners. It allows them to start accumulating an asset and equity and wealth within their community.”
Emerson said St. Vrain Habitat has already held, and will continue to hold, neighborhood meetings with nearby residents to refine the plans for the Faithpoint development.
The Faithpoint property first went under contract with St. Vrain Habitat in July. Emerson
said that over the next eight months, the nonprofit will work on getting approval from the city on the development plans and then will move toward purchasing the property. While terms of the deal weren’t immediately available from the church, the entire 8-acre parcel of land at 833 15th St. is valued at $1.54 million, according to the Boulder County Assessor’s Office.
Emerson said that while the completion of the neighborhood is at least a couple of years away, it’s a way for St. Vrain Habitat to secure land for construction.
“We’re more sort of ‘built out’ than maybe people think in the City of Longmont, and we can’t build a house and provide a home ownership opportunity without the land,” Emerson explained.
St. Vrain Habitat is also considering a second affordable housing neighborhood project in partnership with another church in Longmont. The nonprofit is waiting to confirm the location publicly until it holds neighborhood meetings with the church’s surrounding residents.
Kip Doan, lead pastor
at Faithpoint Church, said the decision to sell the 3.6-acre plot of land on the east side of the church was a practical one.
While another field north of 15th Avenue was long used by Faithpoint for athletic purposes, Doan said the east field has never been used for much.
“It’s just pretty rare to have undeveloped property in the city like that,” Doan said. “So over the last few years, we just realized that we don’t need it. It can serve other purposes.”
Doan said an apartment developer was also interested in buying the Faithpoint site, but said
St. Vrain Habitat stood out due to its emphasis on building stable, affordable housing.
“For us, that was a good fit,” Doan said. “Certainly, how (Habitat) helps people who maybe couldn’t do home ownership on their own, that’s a big thing for us.”
Doan said he’s excited to see the project come to fruition.
“Just from an aesthetic standpoint, I think it’s going to make that portion of Terry Street look really sharp and beautiful,” Doan said. “I think it’s a positive for the whole neighborhood to have that land developed in this way.”