DENVER — Heidy Casas has a simple wish: To live close to the job she loves.
Casas is a cultural arts specialist at the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver. A new apartment building going up directly across the street from her workplace caught her attention — and she is already thinking about applying.
"Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, this is really nice," Casas said. “I would definitely want to live here.”
▶️ WATCH: Denver7's Ethan Carlson checks in on the modular apartments coming to Santa Fe Art District in 2027
The building is no ordinary apartment complex. It is a modular development — meaning individual units were built inside a factory and then shipped to the site on 8th Avenue in near Denver’s Santa Fe Art District.
Minyoung Sohn, founder of Blue Room Housing, is the developer behind the project. He said the construction method dramatically compresses the timeline.
"Within 180 calendar days, we've gone factory to setting, and then it could be up to another four or five months to actually finish all of the inside, so less than one year for us," Sohn said.
Sohn said the speed of modular construction could represent a 30 to 40% savings in time compared to traditional building methods. Work on the factory portion began Jan. 19, and the project entered its final week of on-site setting on June 25.
The building will have 54 units, most of them studio apartments of roughly 400 square feet. Some one-bedroom units will also be available, ranging up to approximately 500 to 550 square feet. To qualify, applicants must earn between 30% and 80% of the area median income. Average rent will be approximately $1,300 a month, and some units will be rented below $750 a month.
Sohn said the project is a direct response to Denver's affordability crisis.
"We have a housing crisis. There's just not enough housing for people that they can actually afford, particularly in communities that they live," Sohn said."We want to keep rent low… if you can save $400 a month at the end of three years, that's almost $15,000 and that's a real nest egg for someone to think and dream about and plan their future on.”
The location was a deliberate choice. Sohn said the neighborhood's creative energy and historic character made it an ideal site for the company's first pilot project. The building sits on a one-third-acre infill lot and rises five stories high. Each unit has its own window, and community spaces are built into the design to encourage residents to connect with one another.
For Sohn, the project carries deep personal meaning.
“I think the historical foundations of this community, the settler ethos of pioneers kind of coming together around a campfire, and if you can contribute, you get a place in the community. I love that part of Denver, and I’ve really come to embrace it,” Sohn said. “I’m feeling a little emotional because I’m very happy to be able to contribute back to Denver in this way,” Sohn said.
Heather Burke, director of marketing and communications for the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Denver, said the proximity of affordable housing to the club is a meaningful development for the families the organization serves.
"To have this affordable housing right across the street from our club, it'll definitely be helpful to families in this community," Burke said.
Burke said the Boys and Girls Club has operated in the neighborhood for nearly 65 years and has watched housing costs rise alongside the cost of groceries, gas, and childcare.
"Anytime there's something that comes to the community that offers to relieve that pressure financially, I think families are definitely interested in it," Burke said.
She added that having affordable housing steps away from the club removes transportation barriers for families and staff alike.
Casas, who said she has struggled with Denver's high cost of living, said the building's quality surprised her.
"In Denver everything is just so pricey, and it's really hard to find a proper place to live with an affordable price," Casas said.
Sohn said the 8th Avenue building is a prototype, and he hopes it will open the door to more projects. He said the benefits of modular construction are expected to grow as the company applies lessons learned from this first building — and that future projects could bring rents even lower.
Units are on schedule to be available by January 2027.
