The Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority has two new urban renewal projects moving forward that would build ‘attainable housing’ in different areas of Colorado Springs.

One of the urban renewal plans would support a 120-unit apartment complex on North Weber Street, while the other would cover a new hotel and a small number of housing units at the south end of downtown Colorado Springs.

Urban Renewal Authority Executive Director Jariah Walker told the Colorado Springs City Council during Monday morning’s work session that it was unusual to have two projects like this moving through the process at the same time. Both of the renewal plans would include ‘attainable housing,’ which is meant to serve families making roughly the average income level for Colorado Springs.

“We’re not in the affordable realm, we’re in the attainable realm. Which is an interesting sect and means we don’t have a lot of tools to build this type of housing,” said Drew Gaiser, managing partner at Blue Truck Capital. Blue Truck is the Denver-based developer group behind the Odyssey at North Weber apartments that are seeking the urban renewal plan.

The Odyssey at North Weber, at the intersection of Weber Street and Cragmor Road southwest of University of Colorado Colorado Springs, is planned to be an apartment complex with roughly 120 units across multiple buildings. Gaiser said that 70% of the units would have either two or three bedrooms in an attempt to serve families.

Gaiser said the Urban Renewal designation was one of the only ways the apartments would qualify for funding assistance through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to a financial presentation Monday, the average rent for the new apartments would be $1,983 per month.

As part of the project, developers would cut off the southern end of Cragmor Road to have it end in a cul-de-sac. The road segment had been vacated by Colorado Springs years earlier for a previous unfinished development.

Councilmember Nancy Henjum said that she heard support for the project recently when she attended a neighborhood meeting. While the focus of the event was not the proposed apartments, Henjum said the residents who showed up supported new development and investment coming into the area.

“It’s the perfect sort of infill project and I know the neighbors, at least at initial glance, were very pleased to see this development,” Henjum said.

Councilmember Dave Donelson posited that the project may not have received complaints because of the high number of college students who lived nearby and were not as concerned about the long-term needs of the neighborhood.

The Moreno and Cascade urban renewal plan covers both sides of Moreno Avenue where it intersects Cascade Avenue east of Weidner Field. Norwood Development Group received approval from the city last year to build a seven-story, 180-room Catbird Hotel on the north end of the property. The south side of Moreno Avenue would be converted from condemned homes to a denser set of housing.

Norwood Vice President Jeff Finn said the Catbird would serve as both an attraction for visitors and a place for long-term stays. Finn said that the Catbird in Denver’s River North Art District has seen people stay there for two years at a time.

Moreno Avenue is the northern boundary for the homes represented by the Mill Street Neighborhood Association, meaning the proposed housing would directly affect them. Walker said the association was in favor of adding densely-built and reasonably priced housing to the neighborhood.

“Mill Street was pretty vocal. They said the more the better. We want more of our neighbors here to be able to increase access to affordability, which is maybe not something this body hears too much,” Walker said.

The Catbird would also go up west, across the street, from Norwood’s 178-unit Mae on Cascade apartments.

The Catbird would join bars and restaurants on the nearby redeveloped Trolley Building block on South Tejon Street, as well as other businesses, residences and hotels that now populate an area that’s been referred to as the New South End — a multiblock area that’s generally southeast and southwest of Vermijo and Cascade avenues.

Both the Odyssey at North Weber and Catbird projects would retain all of the property tax increment revenue in the urban renewal area if the plan is approved by the City Council. The revenue kept by the developers would be used to pay for public improvements in the area, including new sidewalks and drainage improvements.

According to the city financial estimates shown Monday, the Moreno and Cascade project would receive around $13.6 million in tax increment financing revenue from the urban renewal designation. The Weber Street development would receive around $1.6 million from its property tax revenue.

The urban renewal plans will be brought back to the Colorado Springs City Council for a final vote in February.