If you’ve ever driven Pierce Street just north of Colfax, you know the spot. There’s the big state office building where generations of Lakewood drivers renewed their licenses, the potholed parking lot beside it, and a lush, green open field of mature trees that has never been developed. It’s the kind of land you pass a thousand times without a second look.

That’s hopefully about to change.

The site is the future home of ArtLine Village, a mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhood that could become one of the most ambitious and innovative community projects the West Colfax corridor has seen. 

During September’s WCCA meeting, the development team gave the West Colfax community its first look, and the plan is a lot to be excited about: roughly 120 affordable rental apartments, 70 to 80 for-sale homes, artist studios, child care, and a winding art walk tying it all together.

Marcus Pachner, President of The Pachner Company, which is leading community engagement for the project, said the plan starts with the neighborhood itself. “The vision for this project is truly community-centered and reflective of the fabric of the neighborhood surrounding it,” Pachner said.

That vision goes back to the state’s RFP, which called for the underutilized land to provide a community benefit. It continues through planning and design work to preserve the site’s mature trees and connect to the 40 West ArtLine. Guided by community need and feedback, Pachner explained, the project aims to turn vacant ground into new housing for individuals, families, and artists, along with dedicated parks and open space.

Sharing the plan early was a deliberate choice. “We strongly believe early engagement helps facilitate a result that respects the existing neighborhood while meaningfully adding to it,” Pachner said. “The community has worked for years to create housing and expand opportunities for artists. We are now proposing a mixed-housing neighborhood that honors that vision.”

From state surplus to neighborhood plan

ArtLine Village started in the state capitol. In 2022, Colorado passed Senate Bill 22-130, creating a public-private partnership office (the P3 Office) to turn unused or underutilized state land into housing, child care, and community assets. The state campus at 1881 Pierce St. and 1900 Reed St., long home to Division of Motor Vehicles operations, made the list.

In early 2025, the state opened a competitive request for proposals. The winning consortium is led by two names well known in Lakewood, Metro West Housing Solutions and Oakwood Homes, joined by partners Elevation Community Land Trust, Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC), and 40 West Arts. The Pachner Company leads community outreach, with Ratio and Terracina Design on the planning team.

The name isn’t an accident. The project is designed around the 40 West ArtLine, the district’s 4-mile walking and biking arts trail, and the team says the whole concept reflects the arts identity West Colfax neighbors have spent years building.

Two parcels, one village

The site splits into two parcels on either side of Reed Street, each with its own builder and its own mission.

Parcel 1: Affordable rentals in an urban forest

On the east parcel, between Reed and Pierce along 17th Avenue, Metro West is proposing about 120 apartments across seven three-story walk-up buildings, with one-, two-, and three-bedroom layouts for single residents and families alike. Rents would serve households earning 30% to 70% of the area median income (AMI), and Metro West says utilities will be built into the rent.

The heart of the parcel is a community hub with artist studios, child care space, a fitness center, and leasing offices, surrounded by a clubroom and gallery space, an outdoor event plaza, and play areas along the art walk.

Just as important is what the plan keeps. The team heard from residents of Metro West’s Creekside community, right across the street, how much they love the site’s big, mature trees and park-like feel. Designers are working with the city to save as many of those trees as they can while meeting fire access, utility, and stormwater needs. They also want to avoid the scattered, too-small patches of lawn common at walk-up complexes, and instead create gathering spaces large enough actually to use.

For Metro West, the project starts close to home. CEO Tami Fischer said the housing authority brought its own community-centered vision to the site. That vision was shaped by its experience as Lakewood’s local housing authority and by its role as a neighbor, with its Residences at Creekside community directly across the street.

“We know this community,” Fischer said. “We know Lakewood residents have been asking for more attainable for-sale homes for decades. We know artists in the 40 West Arts District need more accessible studio space close to home. We understand how essential reliable childcare is to working families.”

Those priorities, along with protecting the site’s mature, healthy trees, shaped the conceptual design. It places the apartment and community buildings to save as many existing trees as possible. Fischer pointed to the site’s location within walking distance of transit, shops, schools, a park, and the 40 West Arts District. With so much already happening along West Colfax, she said, Metro West sees an opportunity “to bring these community assets together in a meaningful way.”

“ArtLine Village is envisioned as more than a development,” she said. “It is an opportunity to create a vibrant, supportive, mixed-income, multigenerational community hub that responds to local needs, celebrates the neighborhood’s creative identity, and honors both the residents and businesses along the corridor that make this community special today and for years to come.”

Parcel 2: A real path to homeownership

West of Reed Street, Oakwood Homes plans 70 to 80 paired homes, roughly 40 duplex-style buildings with multiple floor plans, designed to bridge the single-family houses and townhomes that surround the site. The homes target buyers earning 80% to 120% of AMI. Under the 2026 Jefferson County income limits, that’s a four-person household earning roughly $106,800 to $160,200.

To reach buyers with even tighter budgets, Oakwood is partnering with Elevation Community Land Trust, whose land trust model lowers the purchase price for eligible buyers, closer to the 70% to 80% AMI range. Here’s the part worth underlining: every home will look the same. There’s no visible difference between a land trust home and a market-rate one.

Oakwood, which has been building in Colorado for about 30 years, is best known for large master-planned communities. ArtLine Village is a different kind of project for them, a smaller infill site in an established neighborhood. But the buyer isn’t new. Amy Schwartz, Oakwood’s vice president of social responsibility, told the WCCA that over the last three years, about half of Oakwood’s homes across all its markets sold at price points around 100% to 120% of AMI.

For most first-time buyers, Amy Schwartz, Vice President of Social Responsibility and Community Partnerships of Oakwood Homes, said the biggest obstacle is the widening gap between incomes and housing costs. Common barriers include saving cash for a down payment or closing costs and estimating monthly payments.

“At ArtLine Village, Oakwood Homes will help bridge this gap by bringing more affordable housing options to Lakewood,” Schwartz said. Buyers who qualify could get help through interest rate buydowns, down payment assistance, or financing options.

“Our goal is to open more doors to homeownership,” she said, “especially for the people who work in the community and want to build their future in Lakewood.”

The child care idea that could be a model

One of the most creative pieces of the plan is small in number and big in impact. Two of Oakwood’s homes would be designed from the start for home-based family child care. Oakwood plans to work with state child care licensing to get the homes approved in advance for a large family child care license.

Then, through a partnership with EPIC, an investor would buy each home and rent it to a child care provider for about four to five years, until that provider’s business is strong enough to take on the mortgage. Oakwood called it a trifecta: a new homeowner, more child care for the neighborhood, and support for small business owners, who are most often women. The child care homes would sit right next to Aviation Park, so providers can walk the kids over to play.

The ArtLine will run through it

Since launching in 2018, the 40 West ArtLine has become one of the corridor’s signature experiences: a green line on the sidewalk connecting parks, neighborhoods, the W Line, and more than 70 public art installations. The crosswalk at 17th and Pierce, with its painted pollinator mural, sits right at the project’s doorstep.

ArtLine Village extends that experience with an ArtWalk, a winding pedestrian path through both parcels that links public art, the street grid, and views toward RMCAD. Dave Rein, a member of the 40 West Arts District board, said he is “excited about all of the possibilities that the project might offer.”

The exact route is still being worked out, and the team says it wants artists and the community at the table as it takes shape. As that community process evolves, Rein said he hopes it leads to “a project that is integrated into West Colfax and the uniqueness of the neighborhood rather than a project set apart from West Colfax.”

Why this matters for West Colfax

The numbers behind the project are hard to ignore. According to figures from Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan cited in the team’s presentation, the city needs about 5,800 new housing units by 2033 to keep pace with growth, with a net gap of 3,419 units after accounting for projects already approved or under way. About 60% of that demand requires subsidies or incentives, because the private market can’t build at those price points alone.

ArtLine Village also reflects the vision the corridor set for itself. The West Colfax VISION  2040 Action Plan, shaped by community members, the City of Lakewood, and the Lakewood-West Colfax Business Improvement District, imagines West Colfax community to continue to expand.

It calls for a healthy mix of housing and jobs, more walkable, human-scale design, and continued investment in the 40 West Arts District. With new homes, artist studios, and an ArtWalk connected to the 40 West ArtLine, ArtLine Village brings those goals together on a single site.

What makes this project stand out, the team expressed, is range. Covering everything from 30% AMI rentals to 120% AMI for-sale homes, in one walkable village, is rare. A young family could rent here, save, and buy a home around the corner without changing schools or leaving their neighbors behind.

What happens next

This is early, and the team was clear about that: no formal application has been filed yet. Because the land is state-owned, it needs to be brought into the city’s zoning, so the team is pursuing two rezonings:

• Metro West parcel: from Mixed-Use Employment Suburban (M-E-S) to Mixed-Use Residential Suburban (M-R-S)
• Oakwood parcel: from Mixed-Use Employment Suburban (M-E-S) to Mixed-Use Neighborhood Urban (M-N-U)

From here, the process follows Lakewood’s standard development review: an official neighborhood meeting this October, a formal application, multiple rounds of city and referral agency review, a Planning Commission hearing, and a final City Council vote.

As for when you might see construction, the best-case answer depends partly on power. Xcel Energy needs to bring a new substation online to serve the site, and that’s proposed for late 2028. Site work could begin around that time, with Oakwood’s homes likely going first while Metro West secures low-income housing tax credit financing for the rentals.

Your voice matters

The team is asking neighbors to weigh in now, while the plan is still flexible. Tell them what’s missing, what you love, and how ArtLine Village can better reflect the neighborhood.

• Project website: artlinevillage.com
• Outreach team: The Pachner Company, 303.825.1671, outreach@thepachnercompany.com

West Colfax Lately will continue to follow ArtLine Village as it moves through the city’s review.