New Leadership Takes Reins at ULI Colorado
On July 1, Chris Achenbach, principal and director of construction at Zocalo Community Development, became the new chair of the executive committee for the Colorado District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI Colorado). He succeeded Bill Mosher, senior managing director of Trammell Crow Co. Upon completing his two-year term on June 30, Mosher stepped down from the presidency but will remain involved with preparations for the international ULI Fall Meeting to be held in Denver in October 2012.
A licensed architect as well as a Class A General Contractor, Achenbach oversees Zocalo’s design and construction. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Colorado. He co-founded ULI’s Sustainable Communities Committee and has served on the Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver Sustainable Building Task Force and the Denver Mayor’s Development Advisory Committee.
Committed to sharing his green-building knowledge, Achenbach is an instructor for the ULI Real Estate Diversity Initiative and a frequent presenter at universities. Recent Zocalo projects include the LEED-certified Solera apartments at 1956 Lawrence St. in downtown Denver and the recently started 2020 Lawrence, a 231-apartment building just to the north.
“With expertise in architecture, green building, affordable housing and infill, Chris represents the best of ULI’s core values of responsible development,” Mosher said. “Better yet, he’s a practical, working developer who knows how to get things done. He has demonstrated this by building successful projects in a tough market. We look forward to sharing Chris’s insights, energy and enthusiasm with our community.”
Ismael Guerrero became ULI Colorado’s vice chair on July 1. Since June 2007, Guerrero has served as executive director of the Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver (DHA), ranked in the top five commercial developers by the Denver Business Journal. DHA has a portfolio of 4,500 public housing, Section 8, and workforce rental units and a budget exceeding $150 million.
Under Guerrero’s leadership, DHA has undertaken an ambitious plan to transform public housing in Denver, creating vibrant, sustainable, mixed-income communities. DHA has three major public housing redevelopments underway, including Benedict Park Place at Park Avenue, Westwood Homes, and the South Lincoln Homes Redevelopment, a nationally recognized transit-oriented development model along the West Corridor light rail line.
In 2009 South Lincoln was awarded a $10-million federal stimulus grant for its 1099 Osage apartment building from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. In May, DHA received a $22-million HOPE VI Grant for phase two of the South Lincoln Redevelopment master plan.
Before DHA, Guerrero was vice president for U.S. Bank Community Development Corp., responsible for structuring equity investments in low-income housing tax credit partnerships. He has more than 15 years of experience in affordable housing development and finance, including senior positions at Mercy Housing Southwest, Rocky Mountain Mutual Housing, and The Resurrection Project in Chicago.
Guerrero has an engineering degree from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Board affiliations include the Denver Dept. of Human Services, Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, West Colfax Partnership, and Denver’s Economic Prosperity Task Force.
Carl Koelbel is the new co-chair of ULI Colorado’s 200-member Young Leaders Group (YLG). Koelbel works at Koelbel & Co., where he carries on a three-generation tradition of real estate development in the Denver metro area. He focuses on development of land currently held by the firm as well as identifying future development opportunities. In 2010 Koelbel received his MBA with a concentration in real estate and finance from CU Boulder. At CU he was a member of the winning team in NAIOP’s Rocky Mountain Real Estate Challenge.
Previously, he was a research associate at ULI in Washington, D.C. At ULI he assisted the senior resident fellows in research projects with a focus on infrastructure and its effect on land-use patterns. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations from the University of Southern California.
Koelbel joins Elena Scott, senior associate of Norris Design in Denver and Frisco, as co-chair of the YLG, which consists of ULI members younger than 35. The YLG hosts project tours, a mentoring program, seminars, community service days and monthly socials.
ULI Colorado’s 24-member Executive Committee consists of 10 committees covering technical advisory panels, project tours, lecture series, finance, affordable housing, membership, sponsorship and the Young Leaders Group. Committee chairs organize more than 200 volunteers annually to plan more than two dozen events, advisory panels and mentoring programs.
