Thistle Communities’ Cannery Apartments Adopts the Crime Free Program; First in the City of Longmont and Boulder County to do so

Cannery residents, Thistle staff, Longmont police and citizen volunteers met Tuesday, June 22 to kick off the new Crime Free Multi-Housing Program at the Cannery in Longmont.  Proven to reduce gangs, drugs and criminal activity, the state-of-the-art program consists of three phases that must be completed under the supervision of the local police department.

To qualify for the program, Thistle property managers worked with Officer Keith Bell on a CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) analysis. The analysis detailed nine various areas in which to make improvements to reduce crime, including trimming landscaping, changing lighting and deadbolts, installing peepholes and similar features. The modifications cost nearly $1,000.

Staff receives eight hours of training and the property becomes certified upon successful completion of all three phases. Through the diligent work of Thistle and the police department, the Cannery was certified on June 22, 2010.

One of the program’s basic rules is “zero tolerance” for criminal activity. The anticipated benefits are reduced police calls for service, a more stable resident base, and reduced exposure to civil liability. All Thistle Longmont properties will be certified once the CPTED is completed and changes are made.

Longmont Police Officer Sarah Aerne got the program accepted in Longmont, having relocated here from Arizona, where the program started in the early 1990s. Through outreach to the community, she is very involved in helping to raise awareness about its benefits.

Three-year Cannery resident Steve Chapell said, “The Cannery is a nice place to live. Anytime you have people working with the police, it’s a positive. It can’t do anything but help.” And according to Officer Bell, “It’s all about communication.”

The Crime Free Multi-Housing Program has spread to nearly 2,000 cities in 44 U.S. states and will likely prove to be a benefit to Cannery residents, Longmont Police and the citizens of Longmont.

Thistle Names New Blue Vista Sales Manager; wee-Cottages Are Move-In Ready!

Thistle Communities is pleased to announce that Natasha Biggs has joined the staff as Sales Manager for the Blue Vista development in southeast Longmont. Biggs has over six years of new home sales experience for K. Hovnanian Homes and Richmond American Homes. Thistle’s Blue Vista features affordable and market rate energy-efficient homes which have won four national and regional awards. Call the Blue Vista Sales Office for more information at 303.752.7751. Office hours are 11-5 Monday through Friday, 12-4 on Sundays.

$2 Milllion Fairways Rebuild Complete; Tenants Move Into New Apartments

Thistle's newly constructed apartment building at 5620 Arapahoe opened for business on March 1, 2010. The new building contains ten apartments as well as Thistle's Boulder Leasing Office and laundry facilities to serve all 70 units. In November 2008, the building burned down due to an unattended kitchen fire in one of the apartments.

The three-story multi-family building exceeds Boulder's green-building requirements, one of which is a 70 HERS (Home Energy Rating System) rating. The average HERS rating of the new apartments is 56, or 44 percent more efficient than homes built to conventional building code.

“We are extremely pleased to get these ten permanently affordable homes back on line as well as have our leasing staff settle into the new offices,” said Mary Roosevelt, Thistle’s CEO.  “The apartment building is equipped with sprinklers to suppress fire if one should occur."

One unique feature of 5620 Arapahoe is a gray water recycling system which uses the water from washing machines to flush the toilets in the building, saving an estimated 154,000 gallons of water each year. Unfortunately, though permitted and inspected, Thistle may not be able to operate the gray water system due to restrictions on recycling water.

Wee-Cottages Now Available

In September Thistle Communities began building Wee-Cottages at Blue Vista, our award-winning development in Longmont. Wee-Cottages feature a variety of inviting exterior styles with two or three bedrooms and between 840 and 1,050 finished square feet. Green-building components include sustainable building materials, highly insulated walls and ceilings, advanced framing and mechanical systems, low VOC paints, and Energy Star products. All homes will be solar ready and equipped to hold up to 3.5 Kilowatts of photovoltaic energy. The Blue Vista neighborhood is across from theLongmont Recreation Center and Cultural Museum, open space, shopping, miles of bike paths and more.

Thistle is pleased to announce that Fred Marienthal joined Thistle’s Board of Directors in July. Fred is an attorney and Partner in Kutak Rock’s Denver office. He serves as bond counsel, special tax counsel or disclosure counsel to numerous states, counties, municipalities, colleges, universities and nonprofit corporations.  He has worked with states to assist in the drafting of legislation relating to affordable housing programs, charter schools, public broadcasting and a variety of funding and loan programs. Fred is licensed to practice law in Colorado and New York and is on the board of Friends' School, a Boulderindependent school, and Kitchen Sisters Productions, a Peabody and duPont award-winning nonprofit independent radio production company.

Thistle Starts Construction in Boulder

With funding from partners NeighborWorks and the City of Boulder, Thistle Communities purchased an acre of land on August 28, 2009, at 1480 55th Street in Boulder and is planning a mixed-income development of eight single-family homes on the parcel. Five of the homes will be permanently affordable. Due to the relative stability of the Boulder housing market and the lack of affordable homes, the development is expected to sell out quickly. Construction will begin in December, 2009, and continue until August, 2010. Community Housing Capital, an NeighborWorks affiliate, committed to provide construction financing of $1M.

Construction began at Thistle’s Fairways Apartments in June, 2009 and is expected to be completed in December, 2009. Thistle is rebuilding one of four apartment buildings that was destroyed by fire in November, 2008. The building will house Thistle’s Boulder property management office as well as 10 permanently affordable apartments.

Megan Cuzzolino, Energy and Green Building Specialist, recently received her LEED-AP certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—Accredited Professional). This national certification was developed by the US Green Building Council and provides a set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction.

Fairways Apartments construction, August 21, 2009

Thistle, Amgen and KaBOOM build a playground on May 30 at Village by the Park

In one fun-filled day, a new playground was built at Thistle’s Village by the Park at 10701 Pecos Street in Northglenn. This affordable housing complex contains 286 apartments and over 150 kids who will benefit by having a safe, quality place to play.

Blue Vista is Green Again!

In late December, 2008 Built Green Colorado chose Thistle's Blue Vista new home development in Longmont, Colorado for its Built Green Home of the Year $250,000 and Under award. Blue Vista is one of the first in the country to be both green and affordable to people who earn modest incomes--teachers, health care workers, and retirees.  Built Green Colorado is one of oldest and largest green home-building programs in the nation.

In addition, Blue Vista won an American Planning Association award as well as 2008 Green Development Project of the Year award from the National Association of Home Builders for green-building achievements in this All-American neighborhood.

Mike Van-Es, a Blue Vista homeowner for nearly a year, said, “Every detail of efficiency of how the house was built was explained to us during our purchase. Comparable townhouses would have cost us $250,000-$300,000 easily. Our home was $170,000.” Mr. Van-Es, a bus driver, lives with his wife, a veterinary tech, and two children (pictured at left ) and expects to save more than $22,000 in energy bills over the life of the home.

Thistle is building 100 homes which will be permanently affordable to income-qualified working families, seniors and people with disabilities. These buyers contribute self-help hours to finish their homes with their soon-to-be neighbors.

Thistle CEO Mary Roosevelt noted, “In a challenging real estate market, green building gives Thistle a competitive edge as well as being the right way to run our business. Thistle is going green in every aspect of our operations, from our rental and ownership homes to our offices.”

Built Green Colorado is a voluntary industry-driven program of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver offered to builders across the state. The purpose of Built Green Colorado is to encourage home builders to use technologies, products and practices that result in homes that are better built and better for the environment. Built Green homes are not only good for the environment, they provide many home buyer benefits and result in reduced warranty costs for the builder.

Fire Destroys Thistle Boulder Apartment Building

On November 15, 2008, a fire occurred at Thistle’s Fairways Apartments at 5620 Arapahoe in Boulder. Thistle Communities staff responded immediately, working closely with police, fire and the Red Cross until late Saturday night, making sure everyone was accounted for.

Two individuals were severely burned and were air-lifted to University Hospital in Denver. The man who carried one of the two injured women out of the burning building to safety was a Thistle employee. He was treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation, and released, and was back at work Sunday.  Both women survived.

In late summer 2008 Thistle celebrated the renovation of the 70 apartments in the four-building complex at The Fairways. As part of the renovation, new stucco siding replaced old wood shingles, reducing fire danger and probably saving the other buildings. The celebration brought together this warm and multi-cultural community

The 5620 building is a complete loss. There were 10 apartments in this building, plus our Boulder leasing and maintenance offices. Approximately 32 people were living in the 5620 building.

We extend our deepest sympathy to those who were hurt by this fire, and our deepest thanks to the Boulder Fire and Police Departments and the Red Cross for their great work.

Your contribution to Thistle Community Housing is crucial during this difficult time. We appreciate the outpouring of community support for the fire’s victims. As of spring 2009, rebuilding has begun. Thank you very much for your support.

Trailer Wrap Receives AIA Awards

Thistle collaborated with the University of Colorado and the Mapleton Homeowners Association on the Trailer Wrap Project. One of the older homes in the park was stripped down to its chassis and rebuilt from ground up using green-building and energy-efficient techniques. This innovative use was termed “alternative urbanism” by Michael Hughes, one of the architects involved in the project. The Trailer Wrap was featured in the October 2008 issue of dwell magazine and won the  2007-2008 Architect’s Choice Award from the AIA Denver Chapter.

In Volume 15 of AIArchitect, The News of America’s Community of Architects, the Gulf States Region honored 13 projects. The Trailer Wrap received an Honor Citation. The publication said: The TrailerWrap Project addresses issues of sustainable design and affordable housing in the context of the ubiquitous trailer park. The jury delighted in this refreshing take on trailer design. “This is a beautiful project.  We would like to see it traveling down the  road,” they said. “The project exhibits an elegant use of simple materials.  The porch is an effective mediating space between the inside and the outside - an element currently absent from trailer designs.”

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has been the leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners since 1857.

You don't need a lot of Green$ to be Green!

On May 11, 2008 the National Association of Home Builders, at its Green Building conference in New Orleans, presented Thistle's Blue Vista new home development in Longmont, Colorado with its 2008 National GREEN DEVELOPMENT PROJECT OF THE YEAR AWARD. Blue Vista is one of the first in the country to be both green and affordable to people who earn modest incomes--teachers, health care workers, and retirees. "These honorees are pioneers, artists and building scientists," said NAHB President Sandy Dunn, "They've worked hard to bring sustainable building practices into the mainstream.  These winners are not afraid to put great ideas in motion." Added Ray Tonjes, NAHB Green Building subcommittee chair, “NAHB congratulates Blue Vista as a national leader in green building.”

Blue Vista is a bright spot in the suffering housing industry. Home buyers receive education and counseling so they can have wise mortgages and sustainable payments. The homes will hold value, and over their life, will save more than $22,000 in energy bills. “Our utility bills that averaged $200 per month in our old place, are now averaging $75 or less per month,” said Mike Van-Es, who moved into Blue Vista with his wife and two children this past winter.

Thistle designed Blue Vista (Winner of an American Planning Association award, as well) as a 198-home All American neighborhood. Thistle is selling 100 homes which will be permanently affordable to income-qualified working families, seniors and people with disabilities. These buyers contribute self-help hours to finish their homes with their soon-to-be neighbors. Boulder Creek Life and Home is constructing all 198 homes and is selling the other 98 market rate homes.

Longmont Mayor, Roger Lange said, “Blue Vista was designed and is being built green to far exceed local code standards. The City of Longmont, an All-American Award winning city, has invested in Blue Vista because it addresses un-met affordable housing needs in the City. By using the innovative land trust strategy and green-building practices, Blue Vista is able to benefit the local environment and strengthen the fabric of our community.”

Thistle CEO Mary Roosevelt noted, “Green is now becoming a standard choice for consumers in almost every area of their lives, from building to Barbies. We are pleased to offer the best product we can in a very competitive market and we thank NAHB for recognizing our efforts.”