The historic Downtown Denver YMCA on E.16th Ave. will close its doors after nearly 150 years of operation to be sold and transformed into affordable housing units.
YMCA of Metropolitan Denver (Denver YMCA) said the gym will officially close on December 30, marking the end of an era for the facility that’s older than the state of Colorado itself. The 45,000 square-foot property will be sold to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) to address Denver’s affordable housing crisis, according to both organizations.
CCH bought the majority of the YMCA’s location in 2001 and converted the upper floors into around 200 units of permanent supportive housing. Chief Communications and Public Policy Officer for CCH Cathy Alderman said the need for affordable housing in downtown is great, as the average cost of rent in Denver is more than $1,800.
“While we’ve made a lot of progress in getting people experiencing homelessness inside, there’s not a lot of options for them to move out of those non-congregate shelters or those motels into affordable housing, because we just don’t have enough,” Alderman said…