Lake County housing authority weighs land transfer, tight timeline to keep 24-unit Leadville project on track

The Leadville–Lake County Regional Housing Authority met in special session to review the status of a planned 24‑unit housing development in Leadville and to consider transferring county-owned land to the authority so a private contractor can build and sell the homes.

The authority’s project lead, Jackie Lillehan, told the board that a lottery held Feb. 10 produced 17 qualified buyers from 20 applicants and that the pool is largely local: 16 of the 17 currently live in Leadville and one lives outside Lake County. Buyers’ employers include the National Mining Hall, Colorado Mountain College (Leadville), Full Circle, St. Vincent General Hospital, Lake County government (including the sheriff’s office, assessor’s office and human services), the city of Leadville, fire rescue and Lake County School District. The buyer pool’s average income was about 93% of area median income. Household size among qualified buyers was listed as 10 single‑person households, 5 two‑person households and 2 three‑person households. Seven units remain to be filled.

Why it matters: the developer who initially won the county’s selection, Adam Berger, could not secure construction financing and fell out of the project, Lillehan said. Oakwood Homes, the second‑choice developer, has proposed a structure intended to avoid the financing hurdle: the regional housing authority would take title to the land, Oakwood would act as contractor and…