Delayed low-income apartment complex project launches in Downtown El Paso area

El Paso Times

The Downtown El Paso area’s newest apartment project launched Wednesday after overcoming 18 months of delays tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and a federal regulatory roadblock.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday for the 80-unit, low-income apartment complex being built at a cost of $17.7 million by the city’s public housing authority, now known as HOME (Housing Opportunity Management Enterprises).

The apartments are being built on vacant land at 415 Montana Ave., on the edge of Downtown, in an area city officials have dubbed Uptown. The shiny, new WestStar Tower office building, located a few blocks away, looms in the site’s background.

Government and community leaders take part in the groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for the 80-unit, low-income Nuestra Senora apartment complex being built at 415 Montana Ave., on the edge of Downtown El Paso, by the city housing authority, now known as HOME (Housing Opportunity Management Enterprises).

“This (project) was shut down. ... We had the money, we had the site, we won on the state scale,” but federal housing administrators held back approval until recently, Gerald Cichon, HOME chief executive officer, told the crowd assembled under a white tent on a warm, partly cloudy day.

“This site is all about hope, and that’s what Nuestra Senora (the apartment complex's name) stands for. It stands for hope," Cichon said. The apartment building will feature a giant mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which Chicon later said also symbolizes the Hispanic culture of this area.

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and Candace Valenzuela, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Southwest region administrator, were among speakers at the ceremony who praised housing authority officials and their newest project.

Valenzuela, an El Paso native and Americas High School graduate, credits federal housing vouchers with helping her family when she was growing up in El Paso.

Candace Valenzuela the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Southwest region administrator, talks to Cinta de Oro, right, a pro wrestler who grew up in an El Paso housing project, and Gerald Chicon, CEO of the city housing authority, now known as HOME, at the Wednesday groundbreaking for the 80-unit, low-income apartment complex named Nuestra Senora (Our Lady), at 415 Montana Ave., on the edge of Downtown El Paso.

The new housing complex will help renew the neighborhood and provide stability for families who will live in the apartments, Valenzuela said at the ceremony.

The project is expected to be completed in early 2024.

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The project costs increased significantly during the more than year delay in getting construction started, Cichon said. It went from $11.5 million in 2020, when a Texas agency awarded the housing authority $12.3 million in federal tax credits over 10 years to help finance the project, to $17.7 million now. HOME also received another $1.85 million in supplemental tax credits in July because of the construction delays.

Supply-chain and financing problems were factors in increasing project costs and delaying construction by 18 months, Cichon said. But the biggest roadblock was the one put up by officials at HUD, the federal housing agency, who said the selected project site was in a neighborhood with too much poverty and not enough opportunity for residents, Cichon said.

Candace Valenzuela, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Southwest region administrator, talks at the Wednesday groundbreaking for the 80-unit, low-income apartment complex named Nuestra Senora (Our Lady), at 415 Montana Ave., on the edge of Downtown El Paso.

It took a trip to Washington, D.C., and some lobbying from Valenzuela, the regional HUD administrator, to cut the red tape and get the needed federal regulatory approval, Cichon said after the groundbreaking ceremony.

A building that long ago was a car dealership and other buildings were demolished to make way for the new apartment complex. The new El Paso Independent School District headquarters is nearby.

Franklin Development, a San Antonio company, was hired by HOME to develop the project.

This is HOME’s second Downtown area housing project. In 2020, it completed the $52 million renovation of the historic, 18-story Blue Flame office building into 120 low-income apartments.

The Downtown area needs many more apartments to help the area revive, Cichon and Leeser said after the ceremony. But the housing authority doesn’t have the site or funding to do another Downtown housing project in the near future, Cichon said.

The Downtown and Uptown area need about 6,600 housing units in the next 18 years, a market study done for the city found. That would require just over 300 new housing units each year from now until 2040.

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Nuestra Senora is part of HOME’s yearslong revitalization of its public housing complexes. It has spent $1.8 billion over several years renovating and building public housing complexes in El Paso, Cichon said during the ceremony.

It currently has five housing projects in construction, Cichon said. That includes the new, $17 million, 110-unit Patriot Place apartment complex in Northeast El Paso, which is scheduled to open soon, Cichon said.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.

Rendering of the El Paso housing authority's, or HOME, 80-unit Nuestra Senora low-income apartments planned for 415 Montana Ave., on the edge of Downtown El Paso in an area city officials have dubbed Uptown. Construction is expected to be completed in early 2024.