CHFA plays many roles throughout Colorado with our home, business expansion, and affordable multifamily development financing options. The Coloradans who we help are more than our customers, they make us who we are and remind us of why we do what we do.

They are chfa. Could you be chfa?

Bishop Family, Confluence Energy, Charlene Sagapolu, San Luis Valley Resource Development Group, Castlegate Apartments

Air Force Staff Sgt. Michael Bishop and his wife Jeanette had dreams of a big family and a safe, decent home. While stationed in Germany with their two children Xavier and Ariana, they decided to adopt Anthionette and Jacob from Liberia. Their family was complete, but the road home was going to be a bumpy one.

The Bishops received a call from the adoption agency that Jacob’s heart was swollen. The military paid for transportation to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where the family learned Jacob’s heart condition was a result of massive holes in the outer walls caused by four abscessed teeth; both children were suffering from malnourishment; and Anthionette also had an abscessed tooth and was infected with ringworm.

After treatment, the Bishops came to Colorado to visit family and Jacob went to the Children’s Hospital for continued medical care. Jacob’s health again deteriorated. He was diagnosed as stage 3 Burkitts Lymphoma and required chemotherapy.

The Bishops then decided to move to Colorado permanently to be near family. Jeanette worked with a Realtor, while Michael finished up his German tour. The Realtor recommended CHFA and its free online homebuyer education course. The course would fully prepare them for homeownership with all of its hidden costs, a very valuable knowledge considering the unexpected medical expenses that they had already encountered. Also, the online homebuyer course would allow Michael to take it while stationed in Germany, getting the family into their home sooner and bringing much needed stability.

Michael says that he liked the online nature of the course. “We had really good people working with us, but the class still helped us understand all of the different terms that were being used.”

Confluence Energy is a Kremmling, Colorado, company with an eye for innovation. A major threat to Colorado pine trees is bark beetle disease. Confluence takes the dying trees and presses them into wood pellets for wood stoves, thus turning what was once viewed as waste into a usable, environmentally friendly product.

According to Confluence Energy, approximately 800,000 households nationally are heated with wood pellets. In addition, some schools and prisons use this efficient energy source. The Kremmling company is the largest consumer of beetle-infected pine, and will produce enough wood pellets to meet the heating needs of 30,000 to 40,000 homes. In addition to providing safe and clean energy, harvesting the trees will protect against forest fires, thereby protecting local communities.

A CHFA business loan financed the acquisition of a manufacturing facility and the necessary equipment for Confluence. By working with CHFA, they were able to get the deal done in 2007, a critical timeline as the beetle infestation continued to grow. Additionally, Confluence Energy saved money on the deal by working with CHFA, receiving financing at 1.5 points under a conventional loan. They plan to redirect this savings back to their business.

Prior to working with CHFA, Confluence Energy employed six people. The financing and growth allowed the company to hire a minimum of 15 additional employees. Further employment growth is expected when the company contracts with independent loggers to harvest the trees. As a result, the business will provide a significant economic boost to the area.

Charlene Sagapolu worked hard to provide for her family. Making ends meet as a single parent was difficult, and qualifying for a mortgage on one income seemed unreachable.

CHFA’s Mortgage Revenue Bond (MRB First Step) program made Charlene’s dream a reality, and she was able to finance her home with a fixed rate 30-year loan. As others in Colorado face adjustable rate mortgage resets and payment increases, Charlene has the comfort of knowing that her monthly payment will remain the same as she is paying down the principal balance on her home. And because we service our own loans, if she has any questions or concerns, Charlene can call CHFA and receive assistance from a fellow Colorado resident.

“Nothing that we do, we do alone.” Such are the words of Michael Wisdom of the San Luis Valley Development Resources Group (SLVDRG). It is also the mentality of the SLVDRG, who recently purchased the top floor of an abandoned rail station in Alamosa, creating a one-stop shop for economic development in what was once the commercial center of town.

For over a generation, the community has dreamed of having a new economic hub; once the rail line reopened for passenger use in 2006, the dream started to come to fruition. Seeing an opportunity to boost the economy, the SLVDRG purchased the top floor, enabling them to help retain businesses and attract new business. They hope to add a small business center and create a business incubator in the future. Their vision is to be the leader in demonstration projects and facilitate discussions and idea generation for economic development in the San Luis Valley.

The SLVDRG is a nonprofit. Because CHFA is also a nonprofit, we understand the unique financing needs of nonprofits and have created loan products to ease their borrowing experience. Roni Wisdom, an SLVDRG member, stated that an unexpected bonus of the easy transaction was the knowledge they gained about structuring nonprofit loans, helping them to use a similar structure (on a smaller scale) to fund a nonprofit loan for the first time.

The San Luis Valley is at the forefront of the Governor’s initiative to make Colorado a “new energy economy.” Michael noted, “We’ve always had the sun, but we are celebrating the fact that we are able to move forward with initiatives like renewable energy.” These initiatives have the potential to bring a strong economic force to the San Luis Valley, and we feel honored to have played a part.
 

Arvada was experiencing a lack of affordable multifamily housing. Luckily, thanks to CHFA multifamily financing, that changed with Castlegate Apartments, an existing 504 unit apartment complex constructed in 1971. The property consists of 21 three-story buildings situated on 27 acres of land in the midst of Lake Arbor Golf Course. Castlegate was a market-rate project, but now is a 75 percent affordable and 25 percent market-rate rental community. The 405 affordable rental units are set aside for residents at or below 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI).
The Castlegate Apartments conversion was much needed as it is one of the first significant multifamily affordable developments in Arvada to exist in many years.