Cole Train apartments to bring more than 60 affordable homes to Cole neighborhood

Housing to complete the Tramway Nonprofit Center block

In early 2027, Denver-based Medici Development will break ground on a new, deeply affordable apartment building at 35th and Gilpin in the Cole neighborhood, adjacent to the Tramway Nonprofit Center. The project is a partnership with Urban Land Conservancy, which has owned and operated the nonprofit center since 2007. 

Affordability to Counter Displacement
The new four-story building will include studio, 1-, 2, and 3-bedroom homes for households earning 30% to 60% of the area median income. The Cole Train apartments will prioritize housing for Cole residents recently displaced (or at risk of displacement) due to rising area housing prices. The apartment building will be called “Cole Train,” as a nod to the site’s former life as a service and storage facility for streetcars owned by the Denver Tramway Company. 

“It is exactly what we need in the Cole community, to ensure we can bring folks back that have been disenfranchised and displaced,” District 9 Councilman Darrell Watson said of the Cole Train proposal, at the site’s rezoning hearing. 

“In 2020, ULC and Medici opened the affordable Walnut Flats just a half-mile from this site,” said Aaron Miripol, ULC’s president and CEO. “Medici has a 30-year track record of building and operating quality, multi-family developments to help meet the metro area’s tremendous need.” 

Building Design and Amenities
Beginning in 2018, ULC began conversations with residents of the Cole neighborhood to envision what could happen with the vacant pad on the east side of the block. Through early meetings with a neighbor committee and later input through rezoning outreach, ULC identified several key goals for the site:

• Use: Neighbors identified affordable housing as a need.
• Materials: Brick would visually tie the new building to the historic Tramway Building next door.
• Parking: Despite Denver’s 2025 removal of all parking requirements citywide, there was a clear desire for significant parking. Cole Train will include designated off-street resident parking. Shared evening parking with the nonprofit center’s corner lot will expand total parking availability.
• Traffic: In consideration of traffic patterns for nearby neighbors, the multi-family building would not include retail or restaurant uses on its ground floor whose customers could generate surges of short-term parking or traffic complications.
• Other: Other features of the new building include on-site property management, and on-site amenities like indoor gathering and recreational spaces.

“Medici is excited to partner once again with ULC to continue pursuing our shared goal of addressing housing affordability in Denver,” said Shannon Sperry, a partner at Medici and the development’s construction and design lead. “Cole Train Lofts is a storied site with close ties to the history of Denver, and we are looking forward to honoring that history while providing affordable and high-quality housing at a place that residents can be proud to call home.”

At Home in the Neighborhood
Since the 1990s, the Tramway building on the west side of the block has operated as a hub for local nonprofits. Today, more than a dozen nonprofits operate out of the Tramway Nonprofit Center, where ULC offers below-market lease rates. 

Organizations based there include Vive Wellness, a local nonprofit for youth featuring after-school programs mental- and physical-health; Denver Youth Program, offering mentorship, entrepreneur support, clinical/holistic therapies, and peer support; and two workforce development programs that help residents gain skills to find short-term jobs and long-term careers. 

Plans are underway for a new, affordable early childhood education (ECE) program at Tramway, in the space formerly occupied by the Early Excellence ECE program. Households at Cole Train will also be just steps from the Wyatt Academy at 36th and Franklin – a Denver public K-5 charter school. 

“Many families have been compelled to leave our community in search of lower rent, which is simply unacceptable,” said Maria Estrada, director of enrollment for Wyatt Academy. “I take my responsibility seriously in helping families find new schools as they relocate. It is distressing to see them facing such limited options. 

“The news about the Tramway’s upcoming project is a welcome development; it represents a crucial opportunity for families to secure affordable housing and remain in their neighborhood. This commitment to our community is not just needed—it is essential.”

ULC will hold the apartment building in its community land trust for at least 99 years; this mechanism ensures that rents will not transition to market-rate. ULC will continue to own the land while Medici owns the building and leases the land from ULC. Agreements with CHFA and Denver HOST also commit the development to long-term, deep affordability.

The apartments are expected to open in late 2027 or early 2028.