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The Urban Land Conservancy (ULC) has purchased a two-acre parcel along the Regional Transportation District of Denver's FasTracks light-rail corridor that will be developed as part of a transit-oriented development (TOD).

ULC purchased a portion of the 6.4-acre Festival Plaza from Shanghai Land Investment L.L.C. for $2.1 million using the city's TOD Fund, set up specifically for acquiring land near existing or future light-rail stops. The TOD Fund, the first of its kind in the country, according to ULC, is financed in part by the city and county of Denver and Enterprise Communities Partners, which administers the fund.

The fund was established to help ensure that when property values increase around TOD areas, lower-income residents are not pushed out of the housing market, ULC officials said in a prepared statement.

"We see this site as a strategic gateway to the west Colfax Denver community; the mix of uses in this development will bring great economic benefit to the area, which is essential to the revitalization of the neighborhood," said ULC President and Chief Executive Officer Aaron Miripol.

As a result of the property acquisition, the city and county of Denver will purchase 0.8 acres of the two-acre parcel as the site for a new library.

ULC is the site's master developer. In addition to the library, initial concepts for the area call for developing mixed-use, multi-family workforce housing with Del Norte Neighborhood Development Corp.