AURORA, Colo. — A 179-unit affordable housing community built on church land in Aurora is now open.
Community Development Partners and Restoration Christian Ministries celebrated the grand opening of King's Crossing Village on Sept. 30. The three-building campus sits next to Restoration Christian Fellowship in the city's Centretech neighborhood, on underused land next to the church.
The project carries forward the vision of the late Dr. Felix Gilbert, who led the congregation until his death in 2021 and founded Restoration Christian Ministries in 1999.
The project
King's Crossing Village has three buildings at 15740, 15800 and 15860 E. Sixth Ave. The 179 apartments include:
- 178 affordable homes for households earning 30% to 80% of area median income, plus one manager's unit
- 51 apartments for seniors 55 and older
- 54 three-bedroom and 16 four-bedroom apartments for larger families
- One- and two-bedroom units making up the rest
Shared spaces include a community room and kitchen, a central courtyard, garden beds, a playground, a fitness room and a dog run. The site is near public transit and parks.
The project follows CDP's "Community for All Ages" model, which mixes seniors, families and individuals and builds in programs meant to connect generations. Restoration Christian Ministries will provide on-site resident services and intergenerational programming.
Who built it
- General contractor: Deneuve Construction Services of Boulder
- Architect: Shopworks Architecture of Denver
- Landscape architect: Flow Design Collaborative
- Property manager: Apartment Management Consultants
Crews broke ground Feb. 27, 2025, so the three buildings went from groundbreaking to grand opening in about 19 months.
How it was financed
The developers didn't disclose a total development cost. The project used a layered mix of public and private money:
- $3 million in direct congressional funding, supported by Sen. Michael Bennet's office
- $7.12 million from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, awarded by the State Housing Board in October 2024
- City of Aurora federal American Rescue Plan Act funds
- Private activity bonds
- Federal low-income housing tax credits and state affordable housing tax credits, allocated through the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority
- Equity investment from Enterprise Community Partners
- Construction and permanent loans from Citi, plus an additional permanent loan from Impact Development Fund
- A tax-exemption partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Aurora
What they said
Pastor Kotane Gilbert, Felix Gilbert's widow, said she hopes residents "feel the care that brought this community into being."
CDP CEO Eric Paine called the opening a moment to celebrate, adding that "it is the beginning of our long-term commitment as an owner and partner."
Brenda Taylor, president of the RCM board, said the opening "carries forward Pastor Felix's vision for housing rooted in this community."
Faith land as a housing pipeline
Analysis: King's Crossing is part of a broader trend of congregations putting their land to work for housing. Many churches hold parking lots and open land that sit empty most of the week, and pairing that land with an experienced affordable housing developer can remove one of the biggest costs in a project.
Restoration Christian Fellowship's campus already hosts other services, including a SafeLot program for overnight parking and a pallet-shelter community, according to Colorado Construction & Design. King's Crossing adds permanent housing to that mix.
The unit mix also stands out. Seventy three- and four-bedroom apartments is a large share for an affordable project. Bigger units cost more to build per unit and earn less rent per square foot, so many tax-credit deals lean toward studios and one-bedrooms.
Why it matters for contractors
Analysis: For Front Range contractors, King's Crossing shows the scale of work coming from layered affordable housing deals: three buildings and 179 units, delivered in roughly a year and a half. It also shows how many funding sources a single project can pull together, each with its own compliance and reporting rules that general contractors and subs have to plan for.
With Colorado's Proposition 123 pushing local governments to approve more affordable housing and speed up reviews, projects like this one are likely to keep coming. Faith-based land partnerships could be a growing source of sites.