In South Park Hill, a former college campus is gradually being transformed — and what’s taking shape doesn’t look like a typical redevelopment project in Denver.

In one building on the Mosaic Community Campus on a recent sunny Friday afternoon, DIRT Coffee Bar had just closed after a day of selling cappuccinos and training baristas with intellectual disabilities or neurological conditions. Nearby, a clerk smiled behind the counter at The Helping Hen Cafe. There, students facing barriers, such as housing insecurity or criminal convictions, receive free culinary job training through the nonprofit Work Options.

Next door, four former dormitories were gated off in a construction zone — soon to be converted into low-cost apartments. Yards away, a pair of teachers watched as children played on the lawn in front of St. Elizabeth’s School, a K-8 Episcopal school.

The community-centered approach to redeveloping the former Johnson & Wales University campus follows a non-traditional model in Denver’s redevelopment-hungry urban landscape. The organizations that bought the 25-acre property are repurposing historic buildings in a way that combines affordable housing, education programs for children and adults, and work opportunities — all within walking distance of each other.

“I never thought I would ever be able to do something like this,” said Aaron Miripol, president and CEO of the Urban Land Conservancy, the nonprofit that purchased the land by joining with public partners. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

And there’s more coming to the multi-use Mosaic campus. In the southeast corner, two buildings owned by the Denver Housing Authority could soon host migrant families. On the property’s west side, one of four buildings belonging to Denver Public Schools is slated to open in the fall, allowing an expansion from the Denver School of the Arts’ current location just north of the campus.

The site first hosted students in 1909 as the Colorado Women’s College, and, later, as the site of the University of Denver law school. In 2000, it became one of Providence, Rhode Island-based Johnson & Wales’ satellite campuses.

The property is seeing new life after the Urban Land Conservancy bought it in 2021, following the university’s decision to leave Denver. The nonprofit utilizes a community land trust to own the land, then partners with other organizations that rent the land or buildings at a deep discount or, in some cases, purchase the existing structures.

This community is part of the vision that Miripol had when the campus along Montview Boulevard was first put on the market.

The community-centered plan shares similarities with another major college campus redevelopment at Loretto Heights in southwest Denver. That 72-acre campus plan includes affordable and market-rate housing, office space and retail, along with civic buildings — but it’s led by a private developer.

The Mosaic plan in East Denver fits with the Urban Land Conservancy’s larger mission. It buys land and buildings throughout metro Denver, strategically focusing on properties near transit stations and corridors. Once it makes an acquisition, the organization works with its new neighbors to figure out their greatest need — whether that’s building affordable housing or opening schools or Boys and Girls Clubs, Miripol said.

“We’re focusing our real estate purchases in neighborhoods, generally, where we’ve seen dramatic displacement,” he said. “How do we play a role to lessen that?”

Focusing on needs in East Denver

In the case of the former university campus, the opportunity for historic preservation and the proximity to the Colfax Avenue corridor and the adjacent East Colfax neighborhood — an ethnically-diverse area facing affordability pressures — made it an appealing investment.

The Urban Land Conservancy joined with Denver Public Schools and the Denver Housing Authority to purchase the property for $62.5 million.

The ULC now owns the land and more than half of the campus. While the nonprofit doesn’t manage all of the property’s green space, its intention is to maintain its portion as a neighborhood amenity.

Archway Communities bought two dorm buildings from the ULC in late 2021, then another two in late 2022 — “at a significant discount,” Miripol said. After Archway finishes renovations, it plans to lease more than 150 apartments later this year at rents affordable to lower-income residents.

Plans for more affordable housing are still in flux — and may shift to meet a recent need.

The DHA purchased three acres, including land and two former dorm buildings, with plans to offer a combined 72 apartments. The longterm goal remains to convert the buildings into permanent affordable housing, spokesperson Allison Trembly said, with the intention to select a development partner this year. But DHA and city officials are now “exploring options for operating the buildings in the near term (for) migrant families resettling in our community as they seek employment, educational opportunities and permanent housing options,” she said.

Denver mayoral spokesperson Jordan Fuja confirmed the administration was in talks about housing migrants on the Mosaic campus, but added that “we have not made any final decisions.”

Job training on campus

While the housing projects are still underway, and evolving, the Mosaic Community Campus’ education programs have taken root.

After serving for two decades as a dean at Johnson & Wales — a private university known for its culinary education — Jorge de la Torre has watched the campus change firsthand.

The chef used to work with students paying $30,000 in annual tuition and fees. Today, de la Torre is helping community members who likely couldn’t afford that price tag.

“Now that this has been open … a lot of people who have never been able to set foot on this campus, in these beautiful kitchens and buildings, are getting a chance to enjoy what’s already here,” he said.

De la Torre serves as the director of culinary arts at Kitchen Network, a nonprofit food business incubator owned by BuCu West, an organization that supports small business growth in Denver. It’s one of the tenants leasing buildings from the Urban Land Conservancy. Another is St. Elizabeth’s, a private school that offers sliding-scale tuition.

Kitchen Network heard demands to expand its presence from Denver’s Westwood neighborhood to the city’s eastside, de la Torre said, and the Mosaic campus made for an ideal setting. Its two culinary-focused buildings include nine kitchens, two dining rooms and classroom space.

An added bonus: Their workers will be able to “live and work on the same campus,” he said. “We’re going to bring some affordable housing to people that might not have the ability to live in Denver.”

The property is located in a food desert, which leaves residents with limited access to healthy, low-cost food. Kitchen Network plans to be part of the solution by offering lunchtime options to its neighbors. The restaurants ChoLon Modern Asian and D Bar are also setting up for-profit commissaries, de la Torre said.

On campus, a cancer nutrition research group is in the works, and Rocky Mountain Chefs of Colorado is holding classes for its apprenticeship program.

“Every nonprofit within a five mile radius of here — if we can help them, we’re here,” de la Torre said.

De la Torre, the son of Bolivian immigrants, now has the chance to help local Hmong, Thai and Ethiopian residents. While many are already talented at cooking, he says, he assists them with costs, permitting and more before they move on to start their own brick-and-mortar restaurants or food trucks.

“This campus should be a welcoming place for everybody to the east, west, north and south of us,” he said. “This is going to have a diverse crowd of people now.”

“We know that we’re in a housing crisis”

Cody Baker resides on a side street on the west side of campus, and often walks his dog through the area.

“It looks nice. I can tell that they’re making progress on things,” he said on the front steps of his home on Tuesday afternoon. Although Baker said he wasn’t deeply familiar with the details behind the project, “it’s probably not a bad thing.”

Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. — the area’s registered neighborhood organization — hasn’t taken a position on the redevelopment of the former college campus, said chair Shane Sutherland. But residents are curious.

City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, a first-term member whose northeast Denver district includes the Mosaic campus, says she hears questions from her constituents about plans for the campus and their potential impact on the community. Those inquiries prompted her to get more involved, and she pushed to be part of the administration’s discussions with DHA over the housing plans — including for migrants.

“There is opportunity for growth, I think, with the administration and the folks who are really leading this project to ensure that they are bringing community alongside them as they are planning and executing,” she said.

Lewis supports the affordable housing component on campus because “we know that we’re in a housing crisis — and not just for folks who are arriving newly to our communities, but folks who have lived in the city and county of Denver for all or most of their lives.”

In the northeast corner of campus, the first new housing is taking shape.

Archway Communities’ project exists at the junction of historic preservation, adaptive reuse of existing structures and affordable housing, said chief operating officer Laura Brudzynski, who worked for the city as chief housing officer until last year.

With one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, the units will be available to applicants earning between 30% to 60% of the area median income — that amounts to between $26,070 and $52,140 for a single person and between $37,230 and $74,460 for a four-person household under current guidelines. The interest list for potential residents is now open.

Brudzynski said she hoped that Archway, a nonprofit developer, and the larger industry would chase similar projects in the future.

“How we can look to other opportunities to utilize existing structures for the purpose of affordable housing is another lesson learned here,” she said.