Affordable apartment complex development plan in Colorado Springs features discounted childcare

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., (KRDO) — According to the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation, a nonprofit focused on developing affordable real estate in Colorado Springs, 336 housing units are set to come online in Colorado Springs in 2028.

However, the Bradley Ridge apartments are unique because the development plan also includes access to affordable childcare, funded partially by federal and state subsidies where the rates are income-adjusted.

The Bradley Ridge Apartments are set to be built off Bradley Road and South Powers, southeast of the Colorado Springs Airport.

"Bradley Ridge creates an opportunity for families, have access to high-quality early education on site, but also helps them break the cycle of poverty and gives them the opportunity to work or go to school with having onsite child care," Liz Denson, the CEO of Early Connections Learning Centers, said.

Market rates for infant child care cost $400 per week ($20,800/year); the Early Connections Learning Center is able to offer it for $228 per week ($11,856/year).

Denson is working with the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation to provide the necessary childcare. Right now, there are 16,000 slots needed for childcare in El Paso County, according to Denson.

"It's going to take innovative and strategic partnerships such as this between the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation, Early Connections Learning Centers and Lincoln Avenue Communities to help build capacity in a really meaningful way without purely leaning on the early education industry to fund this work themselves," Denson said.

Lincoln Avenue Communities is the developer on the apartment unit project, which has received $4.8 million from Prop 123 Land Banking funds. Base rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in the community will cost about $1,500.

"We want to make sure that people are spending the right amount of their income on housing so they can then go be productive and spend money on the other things that make our economy work," Sam Clark, the Executive Director of the Pikes Peak Real Estate Foundation, said.