Arbor 515 sat empty. Once an office building for University of Utah Health, the building is now an urban living community that offers affordable housing with a tenant-wealth approach and a school.
Perpetual Housing Fund, a Utah nonprofit that supports affordable housing projects, was a partner in the redevelopment and owns the building.
The Giv Group — a Salt Lake City-based developer that focuses on mixed-use, catalytic developments in urban areas — developed the building, which offers 96 apartments. CoStar data has the rent at $1,082, about 2% less than the market average of $1,602.
Arbor 515 was also the first apartment building in the state to partner with Community Housing of Utah, an affordable housing provider, according to the apartment's website. Arbor 515 incorporates a renter model that helps tenants build equity.
The 96 apartments range from studios to four-bedroom units, with open layouts. Pinyon Montessori, a school that serves children from three to 12 years old, is on the ground floor.
At the ribbon-cutting for the first phase in October 2025, Mayor Erin Mendenhall told the crowd that the project marks a new chapter for housing in Salt Lake City.
“This is happening close to transit, close to jobs, and right where families actually need it,” Mendenhall said, according to a post on the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency website. “I was raised by a single mother. We could’ve lost our housing over the course of several years of my childhood. That risk was always there on our horizon. Projects like Arbor 515 change that story for the next generation.”
The mayor called the building a “model for how we can turn affordability into stability and stability into equity.”
Arbor 515 was made possible through an allocation of more than $12 million provided by the reinvestment agency, as well as funding from various other partners, according to the website. A representative from Giv also said that a majority of the funding, more than $27 million, came from tax credits through the Utah Housing Corp.
The thoughtful adaptive reuse of a vacant office building and the development's tenant-wealth model are two of the reasons why this project earned a CoStar Impact Award, as judged by regional real estate experts.
About the project: According to the Arbor 515 website, the benefits under the tenant-wealth initiative include annual rent rebates, proceeds from the sale or refinancing of the building, a pathway to homeownership through another partner or an emergency fund for urgent or unexpected expenses.
What the judges said: "I chose Arbor 515. This project showcases how underutilized commercial office buildings can be transformed into much needed affordable housing through adaptive reuse," said Ajla Akšamija, a professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Utah.
They made it happen: Chris Parker is co-director of the Perpetual Housing Fund. Ivan Carroll represented the owner, Giv Group.