Construction to begin on Boulder’s modular home factory

Construction is set to begin this month on a 31,375-square-foot modular home factory in Boulder that is expected to provide climate-friendly affordable housing.

Boulder has partnered with the Boulder Valley School District and Flatirons Habitat for Humanity to create the factory on a 48-acre plot of land at 6500 Arapahoe Road.

The city was awarded $4.3 million total from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the Colorado Health Foundation and the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill supported by Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper. BVSD supplied the land for the project, and Flatirons Habitat for Humanity will manage and staff the facility.

According to a news release, the factory will eventually be able to produce up to 50 modular homes every year, but in its first few years, it will likely build about 12 to 15 homes annually. The homes will be all-electric, solar powered and made with repurposed salvaged steel from the Alpine-Balsam project.

Up to 73 homes produced in the factory’s first few years are slated to be used in redeveloping the Ponderosa Mobile Home Park in North Boulder.

The new factory will also provide a hands-on learning opportunity for students from the Technical Education Center construction program.

“We are excited about this partnership and the opportunity it will provide for students to gain valuable construction skills and authentic, real-world experience building homes that will make a difference in the lives of people in their local community,” BVSD Superintendent Rob Anderson stated in the release.

Added Susan Lythgoe Vasquez, executive director of Flatirons Habitat for Humanity, “Flatirons Habitat is excited to partner in this project to build high-quality, energy-efficient homes for the Ponderosa community. The efficiencies brought by modular construction will enable us to bring more homes to the Ponderosa community more quickly and with less disruption than if we were to build traditionally.”

Boulder City Council unanimously voted to annex the land for the project in December 2022. Mayor Aaron Brockett called the project “incredibly important.”

The city news release stated that modular homes “provide many benefits including the ability to produce more homes in less time, at lower cost, with minimized community disruption and with less material waste.” Homes produced at the factory are expected to be “high quality and highly efficient” and will be made permanently affordable for low, moderate and middle income households.

However, Boulder has consulted with the Arapaho Nation since the project site is adjacent to the Sombrero Marsh open space and habitat conservation area.

The plans for the factory have also not been popular with some residents near the area where the factory will be built. Residents David Hsu and Harald Cassidy filed a lawsuit in February against the city, city council and BVSD claiming that the “public” zoning for the property doesn’t allow manufacturing uses on the land.

Some neighbors have also expressed concern about noise and traffic, and Boulder and BVSD have agreed to restrict the facility’s operating hours to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. City officials previously said construction would take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Currently, construction on the factory is scheduled to finish in early 2024. More information on the project is available at bit.ly/3qlko50.

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