A ribbon-cutting ceremony heralded the opening of 25th & Quincy, an affordable housing apartment complex that’s meant to anchor the ongoing Capitol Square project.

Jake Wood, managing director of affordable housing with J Fisher Companies, told the Standard-Examiner the project includes 176 units meant to be affordable for people making 60% of the area median income or below.

“The project is done in partnership with Ogden City,” he said. “The land was owned by the RDA and we partnered with them to buy the land at a little bit of a market discount in exchange for the commitment to do the affordable housing, to do environmental remediation of the former dry cleaner that was on site and to kickstart the overall Capitol (Square) redevelopment for this block.”

While residents have been accepted for nearly a month now, Wednesday marked the project’s official opening.

Wood said it will go a long way toward addressing Ogden’s need for additional housing stock.

“We see the need for affordable housing in two major ways,” he said. “One is the access to quality housing — there is housing in Ogden that’s available at or near this price point — but what we want to do is offer something that is higher quality, lower cost to the resident in terms of utilities, cost of maintenance, general overall living. And then we want to help contribute to economic development in Ogden by offering more options centrally located for workforce, major employers, local businesses, etc.”

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, several J Fisher and city dignitaries spoke briefly on the project and its impact, including Ogden City Council member Bart Blair.

“This is a momentous occasion, not just for our community but for the many families that will get to call this beautiful place home,” he said. “This project will house over 170 units, providing the opportunity to our residents to live in such a beautiful area.”

He added that the project is extremely meaningful for the community.

“This project will increase the vibrancy of the neighborhood — that’s for sure, which in turn will create economic development and lead to many more neighborhood services which this community has ben asking for,” he said. “As we cut this ribbon today, we’re not just opening a new building, we’re opening a door to new opportunities, new memories and a brighter future for so many. This project was designed with one goal in mind — to provide safe, affordable and quality housing for our working class families, and today, that vision became a reality.””

Wood said it was exciting to be able to finally cut the ribbon on the complex.

“We’ve been working on this for about four or five years since we started,” he said. “It takes a long time to get through a planning process, titling, design process — construction is always unpredictable, so for us to be at the finish line is very exciting.”

He said much more is on the horizon for the area around the complex.

“The overall vision includes more affordable housing — both for rent and for sale, market-rate housing to help round it out, a mix of retail,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to offer things up to neighborhood grocery that really help in-fill the whole fabric of the neighborhood.”

For more information on 25th & Quincy, visit https://www.25thandquincy.com/.