The Estes Park Housing Authority is set to close today on another development in its growing portfolio of affordable and workforce housing options.
Beaver Brook on the River, a resort property under current ownership, will provide rental apartments to eligible residents of the Estes Valley.
“They’re effectively built as townhome-style buildings,” said EPHA executive director Scott Moulton.
Twenty units in 21 structures are on the parcel, which is located at 1700 Colorado Highway 66.
“But we can only rent 19 of them,” Moulton explained. “There is a life estate on the property, so the current occupant gets to use that property until they decide otherwise or pass.”
EPHA is paying more than $4.5 million for Beaver Brook on the River and will finance $3,746,203, according to documents made available by the organization on its website.
The note requires payments determined on the basis of a 30-year amortization but has a duration of five years, according to Moulton.
“It means we have to refinance before the end of the five-year term,” he said. “These setups are pretty normal. It’s pretty rare for us to have a loan that goes a full 30-year term, but they are all amortized on a 30-, 35-, or 40-year term, typically.”
“I don’t think any of our current debt obligations are on 30-year terms,” Moulton continued.
Impact Development Fund, a Loveland-based non-profit lender, will collect a flat six percent interest rate during the term of the note. EPHA will be required to maintain a $109,112 reserve requirement, according to documents provided to the organization’s board in August.
“The main driver” in choosing IDF over three banks was the potential for EPHA to preserve liquid assets, Moulton explained, and IDF “was able to come to the table with more loan proceeds.” “We always approach these things very conservatively,” he continued. “I wanted to make sure we preserved as much cash as we could.”
There are no current plans to sell units at the Beaver Brook property.
“But we do believe it’s a potential future candidate to sell units,” Moulton said. “That’s not the game plan at the moment, but it certainly could serve that purpose well, particularly given the quality build of the property.”
The EPHA board of directors approved the purchase at its August meeting, Moulton said.
EPHA will hold the property through a limited liability company, Beaver Brook Estes LLC.