Aspen is preparing to buy back a piece of its own affordable-housing history. The city plans to purchase the 80-unit Castle Ridge Apartments at 100 Doolittle Circle for $25.2 million, with the City Council set to review the purchase agreement during a meeting Tuesday.
The complex has been owned since the 1980s by Castle Ridge Associates LTD, a St. Louis, Missouri-based ownership group, according to Aspen Daily News. The 80 units sit on about 8.3 acres and were built in 1980. Castle Ridge Associates approached the city about selling the property several months before the purchase agreement was announced.
City Manager Pete Strecker said the city would pay for the acquisition using money from its affordable housing fund. The land and buildings have been appraised at $28.5 million, according to a memo sent to the council regarding the purchase agreement — meaning the city's offer comes in roughly $3.3 million below that appraised figure.
A Complex the City Once Owned — and Sold
There's a twist buried in the property's paper trail. Aspen was the original owner of the Castle Ridge land before selling it to Castle Ridge Associates in 1982; the Aspen Daily News, citing Pitkin County property records, puts that sale price at $4.25 million, while The Aspen Times has separately reported the figure as $4.2 million. Either way, the city is now negotiating to buy back a property it let go more than four decades ago for a small fraction of today's asking price.
Castle Ridge's rent structure has its own long history. Per The Aspen Times, the complex's deed restrictions run in perpetuity, and its square-foot rental-rate cap has been allowed to climb 4% annually since 2000 as long as Castle Ridge Associates continues to own and operate the apartments. Tenants must qualify under Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority regulations, and the complex is currently managed privately.
No Changes Expected for Current Tenants
If the council approves the deal, Strecker told the Aspen Daily News the sale would not impact current tenants. He added that residents should not be concerned that anything in the community will change as a result of the ownership switch.
Strecker also said the city has not determined what any new development on the site would look like, and that such development is not imminent — any changes would unfold over time as the city evaluates its resources and development opportunities. A council memo states the acquisition would simply place an existing 80-unit deed-restricted property under city ownership, letting the council decide its long-term role in affordable and workforce housing.
Room to Grow, If the City Chooses
That same memo notes the city could eventually construct an additional 80 affordable units on the property, though that would be subject to further planning, design, land-use review, infrastructure analysis and council direction. The property has development potential that could allow it to be built out at a larger scale or in phases, but the city currently has no land banked for new affordable housing developments and no immediate housing projects in the works beyond this purchase.
That scarcity of available land is part of what makes Castle Ridge notable. The Lumberyard affordable housing project is currently being developed on what had been the city's last large undeveloped parcel intended for affordable housing, according to the Aspen Daily News. Earlier this week, on November 2, the Aspen City Council discussed evaluating its existing housing stock to map redevelopment priorities for aging units — a conversation that now sits alongside the Castle Ridge purchase on the council's agenda.
A Regional Housing Squeeze
The timing lines up with broader warning signs across the region and the state. A regional housing needs assessment estimated a net need of 2,538 housing units in Pitkin County, and the Aspen Daily News has reported that 62% of the county's workforce commutes in from outside the county. Statewide, The Colorado Sun has reported that Colorado is at risk of losing 24,000 affordable units over the next 15 years, and found that just 20 of the roughly 11,000 homes funded through Proposition 123 met the program's definition of preserving existing affordable rental housing.
Aspen isn't the only Colorado city moving to lock in affordable housing stock through direct acquisition. Denver recently bought a state property on Capitol Hill for affordable housing, according to the Denver Business Journal, with developers able to bid to demolish or adapt the building into housing units. If Aspen's council authorizes the purchase at Tuesday's regular meeting, the city would add Castle Ridge's 80 units to its housing stock, with the deal expected to put down a portion of the purchase price upfront toward the $25.2 million total.
