The 140-unit Eastpointe apartment complex isn't much to look at, but it affords its residents -- including many students, young families, white-collar workers and the elderly -- the chance to live in a city that's increasingly unaffordable to middle-income earners.

"It's invaluable. Priceless," said resident Jonathan Brown, a line cook and aspiring sushi chef. "This town has plenty of working-class people, but it's hardly possibly for them to live here. This place, to me, is pretty much the last bastion in Boulder."

Denver-based company Aimco Apartments bought the 7-acre Eastpointe property, at the corner of Arapahoe Avenue and Eisenhower Drive in east Boulder, for $18 million two years ago, and now plans to raze the complex in order to build 236 new, market-rate units.

People like Brown worry they won't be able to afford the future Eastpointe, and many have said, both in public comment to the City Council and in a series of interviews last week, that a redevelopment of the aging but affordable site would effectively boot them from Boulder once and for all.

"There's a working class that supports this town, but if we can't live here, I guess Longmont will get our working class," Brown said. "I hope they don't chase us off, but if that's what happens, I will say goodbye to this beautiful city."

Having heard testimony along similar lines earlier this month, the City Council took the rare step of voting to call up the project, which is still in the concept plan phase and would otherwise be headed for site review, and possible final approval, from the Planning Board.

The council is set to hear from Aimco at its meeting Nov. 1. Patti Shwayder, a senior vice president for the company, said the company is resolved to knock down the existing apartments, which, are more than 40 years old and which she claimed "need major systems upgrades."

"It's not an option to keep them as is, period," Shwayder added.

'Kind of a huge increase'

Current residents give mixed reviews of the complex's allegedly failing infrastructure. Some said they've experienced chronic plumbing and heating issues, and others said they've never had a problem with the structure and systems of Eastpointe.

But Shwayder said the greater concern of residents -- that rising rents at the rebuilt complex will price them out -- may be overstated.

"It's not luxury condos," she said. "It's a diversity of housing types for many incomes. ...Our rents are going to be based on the market at the time."

Some of the efficiency units pitched for the redevelopment will feature "rates comparable to existing Eastpointe units," Shwayder said,

Current residents have little faith, however, that Aimco will keep rents affordable to the middle.

Andrea Glass said the monthly rent for her two-bedroom went up $155 after Aimco bought the property.

"I was really lucky to get the rate that I did at first," she said, "but as a single parent trying to make it on their own, that was kind of a huge increase."

Josh Brown (no relation to Jonathan) saw his rent go up by $200, a rise significant enough that he's planning on moving out of the complex -- and the city altogether.

"Financially, it doesn't make sense to stay here," he said. "It's a shame. We're going to have to move out of Boulder, which is a pain because I go to school at CU.

"I wouldn't have been surprised if the price had gone up even if (Aimco) hadn't bought it out, but still, upping the price like this is tough."

Higher density is considered

Boulder is well aware that it's losing its middle, which now accounts for 37 percent of city residents, compared with 43 percent at the start of the century.

The city has drafted a middle income housing strategy that will be presented to the Planning Board Oct. 20, and the City Council Oct. 25.

Among the draft's recommendations is a new requirement that residential developers include in their projects some percentage of housing that's affordable to individuals and families making between 60 and 150 percent of the area median income, which is $85,400 for a family of three, or $66,400 for a single person.

Boulder already requires developers to dedicate 20 percent of their units for affordable housing for people making 30 to 60 percent of area median income. That's between about $20,000 and $40,000 for a single person. Developers have the option to pay cash to the city in lieu of on-site units, or to fulfill the 20-percent affordable requirement at an off-site location.

The middle-income provision being pitched now is 10 percent, though a final figure would be set by the City Council.

Kurt Firnhaber, deputy director of housing, said his office is also looking at requiring denser projects to provide more affordability, as part of the strategy draft.

"If you're going to build 100 units on a site and the city allows you to increase density to 150, there would be a higher requirement for affordability," Firnhaber said.

The hope, he added, is to mitigate the impacts of projects like the one now proposed at Eastpointe. In fairness to Aimco, it's very common for developers to pitch market-rate and luxury units to the city, and extremely rare for an outright affordable project to emerge from the private sector.

A citywide issue

The reason Eastpointe's gotten special attention likely has to do with the fact that so many of its residents spoke out to the council directly.

"They're not alone," Firnhaber said. "It's happening in other places where you're not hearing these voices. It's really a citywide issue that needs to be addressed."

Of course, the issue he speaks of is one that has been in many ways facilitated by a Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan that allows Eastpointe and other proposals to come forward in the first place.

Shwayder is correct when she points out that Aimco's plan technically complies with the comprehensive plan, and in fact exceeds the norm in terms of sustainability, green space and bicycle/pedestrian access, all of which are key components of the planned redevelopment.

But the comprehensive plan also calls for the preservation of low- and middle-income housing, and council members said before voting to call Eastpointe up that the plan has been largely ineffective on that front, despite the stated goal of affordability.

The concerns at Eastpointe, Councilman Sam Weaver said, are "right at the heart ... of many things that we profess to care about a lot on this council."

Aimco will make its case when it visits with the council next month, and offers a side of a story that, to this point, has been told to elected leaders only through residents.

"The public comment period isn't a good time to talk about the plan," said Patti Shwayder, a senior vice president for Aimco. "Clearly the council hadn't seen the plan or looked at it, which is why they're calling it up."

Alex Burness: 303-473-1389, burnessa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/alex_burness

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