The Denver City Council signed off on a rezoning this week, opening the door for a four-story, 63-unit, income-restricted apartment building on the Tramway block in the Cole neighborhood. The new building is planned next to the historic Tramway Nonprofit Center and would set aside apartments for households earning roughly 30 to 60 percent of the area's median income. Neighbors raised alarms about the building’s size, height, and shadows, and a written protest petition filed before the hearing fell just shy of the 20 percent threshold that would have required a super-majority vote.
What’s Planned and Who’s Behind It
The Urban Land Conservancy plans to lease about 2.3 acres of the Tramway block to Medici Communities, which is proposing a four-story building with roughly 63 apartments that the conservancy says will be permanently income-restricted and held in a community land trust. The rezoning requires preservation of the brick Tramway Nonprofit Center while concentrating new housing on the vacant pad at 1675 E. 35th Ave, according to Urban Land Conservancy.
Council Record and Staff Recommendation
City planning staff recommended approval in a Feb. 19 report, noting that the application had been accepted by the Affordable Housing Review Team and that the project received housing tax credits in November 2025. The city’s legislative record shows the rezoning application (File 25-1069) moved through committee and was passed, and the mayor signed the ordinance on Tuesday, Feb. 24, according to the online record from the City and County of Denver.
How It’s Being Financed
State and federal low-income housing tax credits helped make the deal pencil out. CHFA and federal allocations awarded the project credits last November that add up to roughly $2.07 million when combined with transit-oriented credits. That award breakdown appeared in a CHFA roundup reported by BusinessDen.
Neighbors Pushed Back but Petition Missed Its Mark
Coverage of the City Council hearing noted that about 33 speakers backed the rezoning while four spoke against it, with some nearby residents warning the new building would “tower” over their homes and cut off evening sunlight. The city staff report shows a protest petition filed on Feb. 17 carried signatures representing 49 properties, 44 of which were validated, and those signatures covered 19.7 percent of the land area within the required 200-foot radius. That left the petition just short of the 20 percent needed to trigger the super-majority rule, according to The Denver Post.
What the Protest Rule Means and What Comes Next
Under Denver’s rezoning rules, a written protest signed by owners of 20 percent or more of the land area within 200 feet of a proposed rezoning triggers a higher approval threshold at the City Council. Because the Tramway petition clocked in at 19.7 percent, the council could approve the ordinance by the standard vote and send it to the mayor. With the mayor’s signature on Tuesday, Feb. 24, the ordinance is finalized and, per the city’s rezoning process, will take effect the following Thursday, after which permitting and design work can move ahead, according to the City and County of Denver.
