Renovated hotel turned into affordable housing
CALEXICO — Renovations to turn Hollies Hotel & Suites into a
58- unit affordable housing development have been completed.
This was announced March 17 during the Calexico City Council meeting.
The hotel is located at 18 Lincoln St.
The non-profit Imperial Valley Housing Coalition ( IVHC) initiated the project with the help of funding secured through the state’s Project Homekey.
IVHC’s Ray Roben told the council the program gave the coalition the opportunity “to apply for some money, which was specifically to purchase older hotels in cities that wanted to fix those up and create affordable units.”
The coalition signed a contract on Dec. 18 to take on the project, with the condition that it would spend all the allotted money by Dec. 30. Plus, it would have to have every single unit occupied within 90 days of the contract’s signing.
Roben’s PowerPoint presentation to the council showed the renovations. He explained that all the ceilings in each unit were ripped out and replaced. The building also got new water pipes, sewer pipes, fire sprinklers, air conditioners, fire alarms and telecommunications systems.
“So it’s not like we just went in there and touched up some things and we’re throwing people in whatever units that we can get,” Roben said. “We completely redid these things to the fullest level.”
Additionally, each unit received a new bathtub, a new shower, granite countertops, vinyl plank flooring and new carpet.
“Even though these are homeless or very low-income people, we did it as if anybody else — any human being — was going to live in there,” Roben said. “That’s the standard to what we did it at.”
The price of each unit is $367 a month, and a single- person occupant cannot make more than $ 14,700 a year.
“It’s been great to see the amount of people who have been helped by these,” Roben said. “I personally haven’t been able to hear everybody’s story, because I had to hire several people just to take all the phone calls and process all the applications and everything.”
Renters were allowed to begin moving in March 18.
“Everybody did their part: from the state, to the city, to the contractors, to the non- profits helping me out to find the right residents that need these places,” Roben said. “We have people coming in from WomanHaven. We have people coming in from Calexico Neighborhood House. We have people coming in from Spread the Love Charity, Catholics Charities — I mean the list goes on and on.
“We have one guy coming in from a tent by University of Phoenix from Spread the Love Charity,” he continued. “And he’s super happy. They helped him get his Social Security going, so he’s got income. And he’s just super happy about moving in.”