Quality Inn, former Motel 6 to be converted into 'attainable' housing
Jun. 11—A Salt Lake City real estate firm intends to convert the Quality Inn and recently closed Motel 6, both on Cerrillos Road, into so-called attainable housing, with monthly studio apartment rentals costing around $950 per month.
The project is aimed at providing more affordable options for low- and middle-income residents in a city where housing costs have skyrocketed.
Mountain Classic Real Estate acquired the 4.08-acre Motel 6 property May 16. It intends to close on the nearby Quality Inn in mid-July, said Brandon Smith, the company's director of acquisition. The company plans to maintain ownership of the properties, he added.
"Santa Fe is in dire need of a housing solution," Smith said.
Mountain Classic completes hotel conversions without enrolling in any government affordable housing programs or obtaining subsidies and has no income restrictions on tenants, he said.
The strategy is what distinguishes "attainable" housing from "affordable" housing, in which governments provide subsidies to developers in exchange for offering houses or rental units at below-market costs to tenants or homeowners who meeting certain income requirements.
"The real test question will be can you put 200 studio units in one market?" Smith said, adding that would be a high number even in bigger cities.
Mountain Classic plans 182 studio units — 80 at Motel 6 and 102 at Quality Inn.
"I don't think they will have a problem filling those units," said Santa Fe County Commissioner Hank Hughes, who is executive director of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness. The organization took the lead of a consortium of nonprofits to acquire the Lamplighter Inn earlier this year, with a goal of converting it from an 80-room motel to a 58-unit housing complex for low-income residents.
"People with a lot of money can do this," Hughes said of Mountain Classic's plan. "It's nice the private sector is doing this level of affordability. It's great that someone from Utah is willing to do this."
Santa Fe County has an acknowledged shortage of 5,000 affordable housing units, said Jordan Barela, executive director of the Santa Fe County Housing Authority.
The apartment construction boom of the past four years is adding some 20 apartment projects. However, only the 65-unit Siler Yard and 87-unit Soleras Station follow affordable housing guidelines.
Affordable housing advocates in the city have been looking at hotel conversions to fill the gap. Last year, an organization aided by the city reopened Santa Fe Suites as 123 housing units. The Lamplighter Inn project, which be called Bella Luz, got underway last month. Provo, Utah-based PEG Companies acquired the Residence Inn near Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in 2018 with plans to convert it into attainable housing but has not yet done so.
Mountain Classic first visited Santa Fe in spring 2021 and identified the Motel 6 and Quality Inn for purchase.
Smith said the purchase price for the Motel 6 was about $55,000 per unit, or $4.4 million total, and Mountain Classic intends to invest about $75,000 per unit, or $6 million, to convert it into studios. The 38,216-square-foot structure was built in 1994 as a Holiday Inn Express and later became an Econo Lodge before becoming Motel 6 in 2012.
The overhauled units at the Motel 6 site will be about 300 to 350 square feet. Each will have a washer and dryer, as well as a kitchen with an induction cooktop, full-size refrigerator and convection microwave, he said.
Mountain Classic will install new waterlines and power lines, upgrade the sewer and redo the power distribution in each room.
"It's a huge building upgrade," Smith said.
Mountain Classic is targeting a spring 2023 opening for Oslo Santa Fe, as the property likely will be called.
The 4-acre property is a narrow strip only 100 feet wide but 1,689 feet long, stretching from Cerrillos Road to the Arroyo de los Chamisos, about three times the length of the hotel development.
An additional building may be built there in the future, but more likely is the addition of amenities such as a pickleball court, a pet area and a trail, Smith said.
Planning for the Quality Inn is not as far along, but Smith noted its proximity to Meow Wolf could be appealing. He anticipated the studio units could provide housing for some Meow Wolf employees.
Meow Wolf declined to comment.
Mountain Classic is undertaking 19 hotel/motel conversions to attainable housing across the country — branded as Oslo — including the two in Santa Fe. Projects in Houston and Murray, Utah, are complete, Smith said, and others in San Antonio, Texas; Denver; Seattle; Nashville, Tenn.; and Orlando, Fla.; are nearing completion.
Established in 2000, the company also has renovated several historic Salt Lake City towers, including the Felt Building, the Clift Building and the Jude Building as well as Amanda Knight Hall at Brigham Young University in Provo.
A broker in Texas suggested Mountain Classic take a look at Santa Fe.
"We really like Santa Fe," Smith said. "We felt Santa Fe is close to Park City [Utah] in many ways," particularly because many workers struggle to afford to live in either city.
