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has drawn a wide range of buyers, including empty nesters, singles, families with children, and professional couples.5 Developers of master-planned communities seeking a broad market with a range of price points often include a variety of housing products that may be rental as well as for-sale. In partic- ular, many new urbanist communities have sought to build bal- anced neighborhoods while also meeting market demand.6 To revitalize urban neighborhoods, community development cor- porations may oversee the rehabilitation of existing homes and new construction, with the aim of attracting higher-income resi- dents—while ensuring that current residents are not displaced in the process. In Atlanta, the Historic District Development Cor- poration (HDDC) has sought to renew the residential neighbor- hood in the Sweet Auburn National Historic District—birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr., and home to the national historic site dedicated in his honor—without pricing lower-income residents out of the communi- ty. Since 1994, HDDC has worked block by block to re-create a vital, mixed-income neighborhood. Producing more than 50 units of affordable rental housing and more than 110 single-family homes, HDDC has renovated existing houses to highlight their historic architectural features and built new houses that blend architecturally with the existing streetscape.7 Mixed-income developments that contain assisted units—often built with developer incentives, or under a partnership between a private, for-profit developer and a public and/or nonprofit entity—can vary in the exact proportion of the income mix, but often include a broad mix of incomes. Generally, the most successful mix (as noted in rental communities) includes moderate-income residents that can bridge the gap between low-income and market-rate tenants.8 In Tent City, a 269-apartment rental building in Boston, half of the units are targeted for low- to moderate-income households (50 to 120 percent of the median income), while 25 percent are designat- ed for very-low-income households (less than 50 percent of the median income), and 25 percent are market-rate units, creating a successful graduated balance among residents’ incomes that down- plays differences between the opposite ends of the spectrum.9 7 Belle Creek Belle Creek is a 171-acre,mixed-income,master- planned,new urbanist community located in Com- merce City,Colorado—a suburban area approxi- mately eight miles northeast of downtown Denver and west of Denver International Airport. The goal of the developers of Belle Creek was to create a mixed-income community offering a walkable life- style. Fifty-one percent of the rental and for-sale units are designed to be affordable to households earning 80 percent of the local median income. Housing types and price points span a wide range, from apartment rents that begin at $346 per month to single-family homes that sell for more than $300,000. In addition to affordable rentals,166 of the for-sale units are priced for house- holds with incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median income,which was $69,900 in the Denver PMSA in 2002,with an option for developer-assisted downpayments for home- buyers if needed. Homes at Belle Creek are a mix of single-family units,townhouses,and multilevel apartments. Belle Creek was conceived by a partnership consist- ing of Sam Gary,Gene Myers,and Rocky Mountain Mutual Housing. Sam Gary,of Gary-Williams Energy and the Piton Foundation,is a longtime advocate of communities that enable families to move from pover- ty and dependence to self-reliance. Gene Myers,of Greentree Homes and New Town Builders—a produc- tion,custom,and niche-market home developer—is well versed in the homebuilding and land development process and shares Gary’s community vision; Myers also has a particular interest in the aesthetics of com- munity planning. Rocky Mountain Mutual Housing—a nonprofit organization with a solid track record in low- and moderate-income housing—joined the team. In addition to paying a fair-market price for the land, the master developer consented to several covenants as part of the land purchase agreement,including a plan that would disperse throughout the community buyers and renters with a mix of income levels. Home sales have been very successful. In the begin- ning,press coverage and word of mouth made adver- tising virtually unnecessary. A later marketing effort has focused on selling community over selling houses, and the owners of higher-priced homes have shown lit- tle resistance to living close to lower-priced housing.11 Profile The goal of the developers of Belle Creek was to create a mixed-income community offering a walkable lifestyle. The development plan disperses buyers and renters of various income levels throughout the community. MI C H A E L P E C K