The Frisco Town Council, on Tuesday, Jan. 24, authorized a project to construct 22 units of workforce housing in partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation to move forward.

Community Development Director Don Reimer said the project known as Granite Park could break ground at 619 Granite Street by mid-April with construction expected to be completed by November 2024.

“A good supply of workforce housing — it’s critical to our economy,” Reimer said during a work session before the council approved the project. “It’s critical to all of our goals.”

The two three-story buildings to be constructed will consist of five studio units, 11 one-bedroom units and six two-bedroom units. Half of the units will be available at affordable rent levels for CDOT employees, while the other half will be for employees that work for other businesses in the Frisco area. All the units will be deed restricted at less than 100% of the area median income.

The town signed off on a guaranteed maximum price of about $12.28 million for the project. That cost will be split between the town and CDOT, with CDOT receiving credit for the value of the land, which they own, Deimer said.

CDOT first acquired the 0.58-acre parcel at 619 Granite St. in 1974 and previously had a mobile home park there to provide housing for the department’s employees in the area. In 2020, CDOT and Frisco entered into an agreement to work collaboratively toward the new Granite Park development. The project could be completed by November 2024, according to Deimer.

Housing has been a major topic of conversation in Frisco — and throughout Summit County — as the town continues to seek solutions to increase the number of full-time residents in the community and expand the diversity of housing options to support a local workforce.

Granite Park is vital for CDOT, as well, since the department employs many full-time maintenance workers in the Summit County area, in addition to seasonal workers.

“To keep the tunnels open and the roads plowed and to have housing for crucial CDOT employees in town as well as employees for the entire business community is really exciting,” Mayor Hunter Mortensen said at the council meeting.

Frisco is pursuing several other workforce housing projects in addition to Granite Park. Those projects, which are in earlier stages than Granite Park, include a 30-40 unit project at 602 Galena St. and a potential project at 810 Pitkin St. 

Granite Street helps Frisco make progress toward reaching its goal of securing 306 workforce housing units by the end of 2027, which would be double what the town had as of November 2021.

“It’s taken a number of years to get to this point,” Deimer said. “We are ready to move forward.”