Boulder officials approve agreement with BHP for Alpine-Balsam residential development

BOULDER — Boulder Housing Partners, Boulder’s housing authority, will oversee the eventual development of affordable housing units on the city’s Alpine-Balsam site, according to an intergovernmental agreement approved by the Boulder City Council Tuesday evening. 

The city bought the Alpine-Balsam property, formerly a Boulder Community Health hospital campus, in 2015. The 8.8-acre property is located between Alpine and Balsam avenues, between Broadway and Ninth streets, as well as properties on the eastern portion of the block between Alpine Avenue and North Street. Its redevelopment plays into the city’s effort to create a western city campus for city offices. 

The plan also includes a residential component, which city leaders view as an opportunity to add affordable housing. But it remains to be seen exactly how much housing could be built.

Like Boulder’s 30Pearl, another city-led initiative in which BHP served as master developer, Alpine-Balsam could see parcels sold off to private, market-rate developers to defray the cost of building affordably priced units. 

“We don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like because it’s simply too early in the project,” said Boulder housing and human services director Kurt Firnhaber. “We’re also not far enough along in the entitlement to know what those costs might be.”

Of course, if it’s financially feasible, the city will retain all the land. 

“The less we have to sell off to market developers, the more affordable housing can be built on this site,” Firnhaber said.

He predicted that ultimately at least 50% of the units built at Alpine-Balsam will be below-market priced. 

Because it is still early in the entitlement and design process, groundbreaking is likely several years away.

In the meantime, “the city would retain site ownership throughout the entitlement process, retaining the land value and capturing additional value once the site is entitled,” according to the agreement with BHP. “In addition to acting in the role of joint master developer, BHP would eventually own the permanently affordable rental homes at the site.”

In a memo, city officials noted that, “while the exact housing outcomes, in terms of incomes served and unit size remain to be determined, as with all city housing investments, the outcomes for the housing portion of the site will reflect the city’s housing goals in providing permanently affordable homes meeting a range of income levels, prioritizing low-income residents, and diverse housing needs. As well, any investment of city funds in housing developed at Alpine-Balsam will meet the city’s homelessness strategy requiring the acceptance of vouchers, including permanently supportive vouchers.”

In a measure tied with the overall development of Alpine-Balsam, the Boulder City Council adopted a new facilities master plan that paves the way for about two dozen city facilities spread throughout the city to be consolidated at a western campus at the Alpine-Balsam site and an eastern campus at the Boulder Municipal Services Center.

Part of Boulder’s desire to consolidate relates to the city’s goal of achieving an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in publicly owned buildings by 2030.

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