Affordable senior housing project envisions apartments, new senior center in southeast Colorado Springs

Originally published at The Gazette June 1, 2026, by Breeanna Jent

An affordable senior housing project planned for southeast Colorado

Springs moved a step closer last week to receiving urban renewal designation.

Denver-based developer Arrowleaf Development LLC plans to build 157

affordable senior housing units and a senior center near the intersection of

Zebulon Drive and Chelton Road, just west of South Academy Boulevard.

At its regular board meeting on Wednesday, the Urban Renewal Authority

accepted a conditions study of the vacant, roughly 3.6-acre property that it

determined is blighted. The board also accepted a draft plan and a third-party

financial review for the Sugarbowl Grove project.

This site plan shows the proposed 157-unit Sugarbowl Grove affordable senior housing complex planned in southeast Colorado Springs, near the intersection of Zebulon Drive and South Chelton Road, just west of South Academy Boulevard. (Courtesy of Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.)

Earning this designation will create a key financing tool to help fund the two￾phase project over 25 years, said Sarah Dunmire, vice president of consulting

firm Economic & Planning Systems, Inc. Future property and sales tax revenues

generated by development can be used to finance parts of the project, a funding

mechanism called tax increment financing (TIF).

“This affordable housing project is targeted at people who are making roughly

half of the area median income, and there is a critical shortage of this type of

housing (in Colorado Springs). We're eager to bring more (affordable units online)

for seniors, who are a growing population and increasingly cost-burdened,” Carl

Szanton, managing partner with Arrowleaf, told The Gazette.

In the first phase of construction, Arrowleaf will build 110 units consisting of 88

one-bedroom apartments and 22 two-bedroom units, with average rents of

$1,120 a month.

All the units will be leased to renters who earn 60% of the area’s median

household income or below, Dunmire told the Urban Renewal Authority.

The first phase also includes construction of a 5,145-square-foot senior center

that will be operated by Silver Key Senior Services, a local nonprofit that provides

programs and assistance to seniors. Silver Key, whose headquarters are roughly

1 mile northeast of the site, will lease the space for 17 years.

The senior center, which will offer a variety of programming, was an important

aspect of the project whose goal is to “build housing to specifically provide

seniors the resources they need to live socially independent lives,” Szanton said.

Rent for the senior center is tied to a loan from the Colorado Housing and

Financing Authority that will cover a portion of its construction costs, Dunmire

said. After the loan is repaid, the developer will sell the space to Silver Key for $1.

Other eligible improvements include construction of Sugarbowl Drive; right-of￾way improvements on Delta Drive; sidewalks, curbs and gutters; stormwater, drainage and utility infrastructure; walking trails that will connect to a Walmart Neighborhood Market to the north; landscaping and public art.

This Map shows the boundary area of the proposed Sugarbowl Grove urban renewal project in southeast Colorado Springs, near Zebulon Drive and South Chelton Road, just west of South Academy Boulevard. The project proposes building 157 affordable senior housing units and a senior center. (Map courtesy of Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.)

Forty-seven more units are planned for construction in the second phase. Thirty-eight one-bedroom and nine two-bedroom units will all be leased to seniors.

Arrowleaf is preparing to submit an application to the Colorado Housing and

Finance Authority for low-income housing tax credits that will also help fund both

phases of construction, Szanton said.

The project, with costs estimated at $38.7 million for the first phase alone, hinges

upon receiving those tax credits, he said. It won't move forward if the application

is denied.

Most of the funding is planned to be covered by federal, state and local sources,

Dunmire said. But without additional monies generated through tax increment

financing, developers face a cash deficit of about $1.1 million in the first phase.

It is too early to provide detailed financial information for the second phase of

development, she said.

When the first phase of construction is complete, Sugarbowl Grove’s net

operating income is expected to be $519,000 a year.

The City Council must give final approval of the urban renewal designation for

the property.