Denver’s Villa Park neighborhood, south of Lakewood Gulch from Federal to Sheridan, is seeing two arrivals this new year, one high-tech, the other low-tech but just as hard to get approved.

Builder Mark Druva (left), architect Mike Kephart and Councilman Paul Lopez check progress of an ADU taking shape near the new Knox Court Light Rail Station.

Right across Sanchez Park from the new FasTracks station on the route from downtown to Golden, builder Mark Druva is trimming an ADU – accessory dwelling unit — a detached cottage behind a house, that can be home for grandma, or a college kid, or renter.

Award winning architect Mike Kephart became fascinated by the ADU concept after he kept noticing little cottage-sized houses that manage to survive decades at the rear of many city lots. Now he’s a national advocate for ADUs; and opened Sidekick Homes to design them, including one you can tour by appointment (it and its adjacent primary house are set for completion this spring, at $195,000).

City Councilman Paul Lopez (he not only represents Villa Park but grew up there) says ADUs are a solution to the problem that eventually faces older residents – having to give up their home after they can no longer live completely independent. “Why should you leave a neighborhood where you raised your family?” he asked, as he dropped by 1095 Julian Street to see how the ADU was coming a football-field southeast of the new Knox Court Station.

Druva can show you how he remodeled the small 2-bedroom home at the front of the 6,250-foot lot, then built the ADU out back, 576 square feet with a studio bedroom-kitchen and bath, all ADA accessible. The size, Kephart notes, is exactly the dimension of a 2-car garage, raising the possibility that after some structural changes, you could create one on top of your alley-load garage.

But getting ADUs past neighborhood associations and city planners was no walk-in-the-park, Kephart adds, noting that Denver’s new 2010 zoning allows them in 13% of neighborhoods. He estimates that the buyer of the Villa Park home could rent the ADU for $500 or $600 per month. Grandma might not have to pay rent; but that could still be a good deal for a college student, who could hop on Light Rail (the West Rail Line opens in 2013) and be into Metro, CU Denver, or west to Red Rocks Community College, without going near a car.

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IF YOU GO

[BOX] WHERE: ADU – accessory dwelling unit, small cottage adjacent to a primary home, near Denver’s Sanchez Park, for housing an elderly parent, student, or renter; for viewing by appointment only. 1095 Julian St., Denver; from Federal head west on W. 10th 5 blks to Julian, then north

PRICE: $195,000
WHEN: By appointment only
PHONE: 303-790-1129 WEB: DruvaRedevelopment.com KephartLiving.com

This entry was posted on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 11:32 pm and is filed under New Urban. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.