Durango resident Daniel Lucero said he considers home to be wherever he lays his head. But he admitted his new apartment, a unit at the Residences at Durango, is like living in a mansion compared to hotel living.
Lucero was the first tenant to move into the Residences at Durango, a 120-unit motel-turned-apartments at 21382 U.S. Highway 160 in west Durango.
About Residences at Durango
The Residences at Durango is an ambitious project aimed at adding 120 affordable and workforce housing units for low-income earners to Durango’s housing inventory.
The city of Durango partnered with Project Moxie and Indianapolis-based TWG Development to complete what is expected to be Colorado’s first hotel-to-residential conversion using low-income housing tax credits – and the largest such project in Southwest Colorado.
The city and Project Moxie partnered to purchase the property, a former Best Western motel, while TWG, the developer, later reimbursed both the city and the nonprofit.
TWG now owns the development and is responsible for building and managing the apartments, which will include 120 units: 72 units within the former motel and 48 in new buildings under construction behind it.
The units are intended for workers earning 30% to 60% of the area median income in La Plata County – equivalent to $26,520 to $53,040 annually for a two-person household.
According to the La Plata County Regional Housing Alliance, the total projected cost of the project was $35.6 million as of April 2024.
He moved in on July 11 after spending a year and a half at the Spanish Trails Inn & Suites and four months at the Baymont by Wyndham Durango, where he paid $375 and nearly $700 a week, respectively.
His new monthly rent at the Residences at Durango is $1,240. He said he’s disabled – blind in his right eye – and on a waitlist for a federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, which would assist him with rent.
Seven residents had moved into the apartments as of Friday, said Tammy Sanora, Elmington Property Management’s community director for the Residences at Durango. She expects two to three more move-ins per day next week, with at least 30 units accounted for by signed leases.
Lucero said he’s feeling good in his “awesome” new home, which is only for him and his dog, Caramillo, a German Shepherd-border collie mix.
“I have a dishwasher, the full stove, oven, microwave. (I have) the whole thing,” he said. “At the Baymont, all we had was a bathroom sink, and we had to take our own appliances.”
He even has a balcony.
Lucero was experiencing a rough go of things a couple of years ago. He said he had just moved back to Durango from Cortez when he caught a nasty bout of COVID-19 that landed him in the hospital.
After being released from the hospital, he moved in with his father and tucked his belongings into a storage locker. He stayed with his father for only a couple of weeks, wanting to stay on his feet and take care of himself. But Durango housing isn’t cheap and he ended up holing up at the Spanish Trails.
He learned of the Residences at Durango through Manna in March, applied and was accepted, he said.
Like other prospective tenants, Lucero had planned on moving into the apartments earlier this year, but his move was postponed because of construction, largely due to crews having difficulty locating a water main.
TWG Development, the Indianapolis-based owner and builder of Residences at Durango, contracted Elmington Property Management to manage the apartments after former Ross-Envolve property management pulled out.
The delays caused concerns among some prospective tenants, including New Mexico resident Katie Barthel, who had filed an application and given a security deposit for a unit for her disabled daughter, Kylie Vaughn, only to have her move-in date pushed back several times before she lost communication with Ross-Envolve completely.
“We recognize that coordinating a move from one apartment to another can be challenging, and we are doing our best to ensure clear and timely communication,” Seth Atkinson, TWG director of development, told The Durango Herald last month. “We’re also working closely with the local housing authority on several of the pending applications.”
When Barthel and Vaughn received word earlier this week Vaughn’s apartment was move-in ready, Vaughn squealed with excitement, her mother said.
“I'm ecstatic,” Vaughn said. “We've been waiting so long for this.”
Barthel said her daughter was living in supportive housing in Durango, but she felt unsafe due to drug use, fights and arguments by other residents.
“It was really hard for her to feel safe there. So she's very, very happy to get out of there,” she said.
Vaughn’s previous living conditions were “bare bones,” with a hot plate for preparing meals and a non-functioning dishwasher for home appliances, “but was a place to rest her head at night and get some sleep.”
Barthel said the renovations at Residences at Durango turned out well, with nice finishes, home appliances and the general comforts of apartment living. Vaughn said her unit is tiny but comfy, and she loves her bedroom.
“I have two AC units. I have a fridge. I have some cupboards that have a built-in microwave. The sofa’s small, same with the dishwasher, but they’re good enough,” Vaughn said.
Sanora said she worked for the Housing Authority of Montezuma County in Cortez for 15 years before she took her current job with Elmington Property Management several weeks ago.
The Residences at Durango opened without much fanfare, with more of a soft opening than a grand opening, she said. The property management company is still tying up loose ends from the transition from Ross-Envolve – such as getting phones lines operational and fixing up the website.
Sanora said her top priority has been reaching prospective tenants who have made security deposits for apartments and who have housing vouchers that can be used before they expire.
More than half of the 72 units inside the former motel remain available, she said. She expects official signage advertising units to be put up next week. For now, the best way of inquiring about units is to visit the office onsite.
She said some people are confused by the tax credit program that determines eligibility for renters – some people assume they won’t qualify for a unit because they rely on vouchers, but the Residences at Durango does accept vouchers.
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, Housing Choice and state housing vouchers, for example, are all acceptable, she said.
The units were built for workers earning 30% to 60% of the area median income in La Plata County – equivalent to $26,520 to $53,040 annually for a two-person household.
Forty-eight more units in two new buildings are expected to be completed at the end of August.
“I just took a look today at the two- and three-bedrooms, and they are absolutely beautiful,” Sanora said. “It’s going to be such a lovely home for the community.
cburney@durangoherald.com
