Aspen Lumberyard Affordable Housing
Aspen City Council approved on Nov. 12 a $3 million contract with Gould Construction to begin preparing the Lumberyard site for construction of up to 300 affordable housing units. To watch the council meeting, watch here.
The work, which will continue through spring of 2025, includes the demolition of 11 buildings on the former sites of Builders FirstSource and Aspen Mini Storage. Crushing operations will take place on-site to process materials like asphalt and concrete for recycling. Additionally, minor excavation will remove contaminated soil to ensure environmental safety.
Aspen City Council approved the Lumberyard project on Sept. 19, 2023. To watch the meeting in which the Lumberyard was approved, read here. During the summer and fall of 2024, City Council will continue to meet and update the public on the next steps in the timeline.
After purchasing most of the land for the project in 2008, the city began conceptualizing the Lumberyard project in 2019 with a public outreach campaign. Additional land for the project was purchased in 2020.
The project, located just east of the Airport Business Center, will include 277 to 304 housing units with at least 467 bedrooms.
Read on for more information about the 100% electric project, including projected timelines, detailed information on the 100% affordable housing complex, and more.
What is the Lumberyard?
In response to the urgent need for affordable housing in the Aspen area, Aspen’s Lumberyard affordable housing development near the AABC will create approximately 300 new affordable housing units in three four-story buildings, along with communal landscapes, infrastructure, and transportation improvements.
Aspen City Council directed a community-based design process for the project, which included extensive community engagement. Through that process, the Aspen community favored a highly sustainable project with various unit types to serve a broad mix of demographics.
The Lumberyard is designed to provide 100% accessibility to all units on all levels of each building, with enhanced pedestrian access, tree-lined streets, and exterior access for all ground-floor units.
The project will include convenient access to multimodal transportation, including a new, dedicated, fare-free transit service to downtown Aspen at 30-minute intervals and a WeCycle bike-share. By housing 600 people closer to where they work, the project will reduce carbon emissions from commuter transportation by 500,000-600,000 pounds (about 272155.2 kg) per year.
100% Electric Project
The 100% electric project will seek sustainability certification under the Enterprise Green Communities Plus program. Its building envelope will be energy-efficient, and 75% of the energy will be offset from on-site solar photovoltaic systems.
100% Affordable Housing
The Lumberyard is planned to be 100% affordable housing intended for the local workforce, who will be required to qualify under the Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority (APCHA) income and asset regulations.
Half of the units will serve working households with incomes at or below 85% of Area Median Income (AMI). About a third of the units will serve working households with incomes from 85% to 130% AMI. The balance of units will serve households with incomes from 130% to 240% of AMI, and above.
Upcoming Process:
The Lumberyard project is divided into four implementation phases. The city of Aspen is expected to complete Phase 0 of the project by the end of 2026. This will consist of utility and roadway improvements to support next steps in the project.
Thereafter, there are three planned phases of affordable housing building development -Phases 1, 2 and 3 - each of which is a four-story building with approximately 100 units. The city plans to contract out the construction and operation of the housing buildings to private developers, which the city will select in 2025.
Building phases being planned
The timing of the development of the three building phases is still being worked on as it is subject to private developer agreements and available funding. However, the city of Aspen expects that initial occupancy may occur in 2028 or 2029.
The outline below provides additional detail on the short-term project implementation process:
See the community outreach and design history for information about input received from the community from 2019 through 2022 and how the design process evolved over that time into the images and plans shown below.
Development Application Plans, October 2022:
Existing Conditions and Draft Subdivision Plat
Schematic Design Plans, June 2022:
SITE PLAN, MASSING AND OVERHEAD PERSPECTIVE
SECTION
UNIT PLANS
WATCH THE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSIONS:
Click to watch the September 26, 2022 City Council Work Session Recording
Click to watch the May 16th 2022 City Council Work Session Recording
Click to watch the April 4th 2022 City Council Work Session Recording
Click to watch the March 21st 2022 City Council Work Session Recording
Click to watch the February 14th 2022 City Council Work Session Recording
Click to watch the January 10th 2022 City Council Work Session Recording
Click to watch the November 1st 2021 City Council Work Session Recording
NOTES ON LAND USE PROCESS:
The development application for the Lumberyard affordable housing development is planned to be submitted late October or early November 2022.
Look for community outreach effort #5 related to the development application in early November 2022.
Note: There will be public hearings with Aspen City Council on a related land use action October 25, 2022 and November 15, 2022. This is a limited action which proposes to subdivide the southern-most portion of the project site from the larger, adjacent fathering parcel - an action that has been anticipated since the Bar-X Pre-Annexation Agreement nearly 20 years ago. Much like the annexation of the Lumberyard and the annexation of the Aspen Mini Storage property, both which have previously been completed, this action will approve no development and is intended only to prepare the southern-most portion of the Lumberyard project site for the Lumberyard development application, which is being handled as a separate action of its own.