While Wasatch Front cities recognize the need for single-room occupancy hotels, it is difficult to maintain the ones already here, much less build new ones.
A legacy of deferred maintenance left two such hotels virtually in ruins. But despite heavy resistance from nearby businesses, an Ogden developer has upgraded them into safe, decent housing for single people who cannot afford apartment rents.The Kier Corp. renovated the Rio Grande hotel in Salt Lake City and the Marion Hotel in Ogden in partnership with the cities, state and federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"There was a real need for this type of housing in the community," said Stanley Stradley, Kier first vice president.
Both hotels were built around the turn of the century near the cities' Union Pacific stations.
During the renovations, tenants were allowed to stay. When the Rio Grande renovation was completed last fall, 18 new rooms had been added to the hotel's original 30 by tearing out ground-floor commercial space. A lobby and sun room were retained.
The Marion, in Ogden's 25th Street historic district, was a bigger project.
On the main floor of the old hotel were a lobby, a bar, some shop space and a defunct cafe. The renovation proceeded wing-by-wing, with tenants moving to new rooms as construction was under way.
When the overhaul was completed last fall, the lobby had been remodeled and the cafe reopened. The commercial space now includes four new handicapped-access rooms and six commercial spaces, three of which were donated to agencies that provide support and services to the hotel residents and surrounding community.
The Rio Grande rents rooms to singles only at a monthly rate of $227 with a $50 deposit. The Marion, which is HUD-subsidized, charges tenants on a sliding scale, with the top rent fixed at $270 per month.
It took three years to get all the approvals to begin the 86-room Marion project, Stradley said, with resistance coming from different quarters.