Builder tops out Windsor senior apartments

WINDSOR — Lakewood-based Pinkard Construction Co., announced Monday that it has topped out Windsor Housing Authority’s Jacoby Meadows Senior Affordable Apartments.

The first phase of the Jacoby Meadows project at 1516 Windshire Drive, scheduled for opening in September, will include 50 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom rental units and will be restricted to low- to moderate-income residents age 55 and older who earn 30% to 80% of area median income. The second phase, which is still seeking funding, will have 61 units. The apartments will be in two three-story buildings with 4.5 acres of open space.

Ground was broken for the first phase last August.

Developed in partnership with the Loveland Housing Authority and Boulder-based Workshop8 Architecture, the project remains on time and within budget despite several early challenges and numerous inclement weather days, the construction company said.

During the sewer tie-in phase, construction crews encountered an unexpected “bedrock-like layer” that stopped just short of requiring blasting to penetrate, according to a Pinkard news release. Unexpected groundwater became an additional concern, requiring an extended dewatering phase.

Tasked with providing more than 63,000 square feet of framing, the Pinkard Frameworks team began a constructability and quality-control effort during preconstruction, vetting the framing design for layout, detailing, fit and finish. Procurement and site logistics were also high priorities, and the team completed most of the framing in less than two months, even with 13 weather days.

“I can’t say enough about Frameworks’ contribution to this construction effort,” Terry Wevers, Pinkard’s senior superintendent, said in a prepared statement. “They are going above and beyond to provide exceptional framing services in a remarkably short time frame. Considering our early challenges, we are delighted to be on time and in budget, and we’re expecting to make up even more time now that we’re dried in.”

Eric Hull, director of real estate development for the Loveland Housing Authority, added that “LHA and WHA are thrilled with the construction progress to date, and Pinkard Construction is once again demonstrating why they have become such a trusted general contractor for us. Their

dedication, expertise and innovative construction techniques have the project on schedule and within budget despite some unforeseen challenges in the first few months of construction. We are looking forward to the grand opening of Jacoby Meadows later this year and for the opportunity to bring these much-needed new, affordable, age-restricted housing units to the Windsor community.”

Pinkard is moving forward with roofing, rough-ins and window quality control.

The development is bordered to the north and west by the Windshire Park subdivision and to the south by the Windsor Housing Authority’s 80-unit income-qualified Windsor Meadows Apartments.

The Windsor Housing Authority also runs Century III Apartments, a 62-unit community for individuals 62 and older as well as those with disabilities. Besides creating low- and moderate-income housing opportunities in Loveland, the Loveland Housing Authority mentors and helps other housing authorities such as Windsor’s.

Jacoby Meadows is among four projects in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado and 12 around that state that received competitive low-income housing tax credits in mid-2023 from the Colorado Housing Finance Authority. CHFA received 26 applications for the 9% federal tax credits, and the 12 awards will help build a total of 605 new affordable housing units for individuals – including families, seniors and veterans – who don’t have stable housing. Developers sell the credits to investors to raise equity for the projects, thus lowering the debt the developer would have to borrow for the project and keeping the rents affordable. The Windsor and Loveland housing authorities are using a 9% credit worth $1.45 million to help build the $17.5 million, 63,000-square-foot Jacoby Meadows project.

During the pre-construction phase, Pinkard assisted in acquiring tax-credit funding and collaborated with the owner/architect team to develop a construction phasing plan to optimize the schedule. Pinkard Frameworks, the company’s in-house framing division, worked with Workshop8 to identify construction issues in the permit plan set, including implementing an

alternative to corridor framing that is more efficient to build at a lower cost. Frameworks also found a local supplier to single-source structural steel and specialty wood beams, and to provide shop drawings and materials, eliminating the inefficiency of coordinating multiple suppliers.

Pinkard has been building affordable-housing projects since 1962 and has completed more than 100 of them across the state.

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