Vic Kolenc|El Paso Times
El Paso homebuilder Carlos Villalobos has a new angle.
Besides building homes, which he'sbeen doing for the last decade, he's now also building two small apartment projects for two property owners on infill lots in Central El Paso. He alsohas plans to builda third one on land he owns in the Magoffin Historic District on the edge of Downtown.
"I like to builddifferent projects," said Villalobos, 37,who also is president of the El Paso Association of Builders, the local homebuilders group."There's definitely a need, especially in this area, for new housing."
"I think there will be a demand for these kind of (new) units" in this area, Villalobos said recently as he stood next to the vacant lot at Stanton and Crosby, where ground work is underway for the 14-unit,upscale apartment building his company, Pointe Homes, is constructing for the doctor who owns the property.
The site is not far from Downtown,near the University of Texas at El Paso campus, and near two hospitals.
Ed and JoeSoto also are trying theirhands at infill apartment developments. The father and son, who operate Miracle Delivery Armored Service, early this year beganconstructing a 12-unit, townhouse rental project at 1400 N. Kansas and River, only a few blocks away from Pointe Homes' apartments project.
"We want to keep changing El Paso for the better and making it more attractive to people from out of town," saidJoe Soto, 27, chief operating officer of his family's Soto Enterprises.
The townhouses areunder construction as the Sotos' first infill project nears completion at Campbell and Third Street in South El Paso, on the edge of Downtown. That87-unit, $4.75 million Campbell Apartments isexpected to open in July. Both projects include retail spaces.
Villalobos and Soto don't know if their developments will start an infill development trend in El Paso.
"There's not a lot of lots you can do this," Villalobos said. It's something that will happen little by little, he predicted.
Soto said, "It'd be nice to have more developers investing --in South El Paso, for sure."
"I could seea trend starting" because there's a need for new rental properties in areas in and near Downtown, Soto said.
Carlos Gallinar, deputy director of the city Planning and Inspections Department, said city officials want to see more of these type of infill developments because the city needs higher-density land uses to get more riders for Sun Metro and the coming trolley system, which will run in front of Pointe Homes' Stanton apartment project.
"I think we're seeing more of these developments pop up because there's a market for this type of lifestyle," he said.
Gallinar wason the ground floor of El Paso's still fledgling Downtown areahousing development. Before working for the city, he wasdirector of the La Fe Community Development Corp., which developed the 91-unit, $8 million, upscale Magoffin Park Villas apartments at 900 Myrtle, on the edge of Downtown. The complex opened in summer 2011.
"It deserves a lot of credit" for showing that type ofmixed-use, high-density apartment project could work in the Downtownarea, he said.
Eugenio “Pacelli” Mesta, president of Exigo Architects, an El Paso architecural firm that's designed the Pointe Homes and Soto apartment projects, is a promoter of infill and other developmentsthat help revitalize Downtown and its edges.
"I like working on these type of projects. This is something that will increase the city's density and help mass transit grow, and improve the quality of life," Mesta said.
"The economics work because it is a higher density," Mesta said. The projects have "great marketability" for Downtown employees, doctors and others working in hospitals and offices near these infill projects, and for UTEP students,he said.
The other project Pointe Homes has under construction is the14-unit Franklin Avenue Apartments at617 W. FranklinAve., just down the street from the Downtown baseball stadium. El Paso businessman Renard Johnson is having the project built on a vacant, 15,000 square-foot lot he's leasing from the city.
Johnson, president and CEO of METI Inc., a federal technology contractor in East El Paso, told the El Paso Times last fall, when ground was broken for the apartmentbuilding, that he's doing the project as his part for Downtown redevelopment. He may try to do another project in that area, he said. Hehopes other developers are encouraged to do projects Downtown, he said.
Mesta said the Old San Francisco Historic District, next tothe Franklin Avenue Apartments project and behind the baseball stadium, needs redeveloped.
"It would be tough" because of the conditions of the apartment buildings there and the historic district requirements, he said.
"I think it can be done," and the Franklin Avenue Apartments may help show the marketability of the area, he said.
Gallinar, the city planner, said the city five years ago put into place tax and other incentives for constructing housing and other projects in the Downtown area and other areas near certain Sun Metro bus terminalsto encourage these type of infillprojects. The projectsbeing built byVillalobos and the Sotos have agreements with the city to receive incentives as long as cityrequirements are met.
Mesta said the incentives make the projects more economically feasible. The site preparation costs for these type of sites are expensive, he said.
Homebuilder Villalobossaid constructingthe small apartment projects isdifferent than building homes because the sites need a lot of extra preparation, and costs need to be watched closely.
"It's a learning experience, and a lot of fun," he said. "It's nice to build things. It's very satisfying and very stressful."
More information:exigoarch.com
Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; 546-6421; @vickolenc on Twitter.
