A fire gutted the Stratford hotel in June, and it's going to take $4.5 million to make it functional.
Salt Lake City will supply about $230,000 of that price tag in return for 46 studio apartments dedicated for the next 99 years to low-income residents.
The man responsible for the project, Ben Logue, will collect tax credits for solar panels on the roof and revamp the building on the corner of 200 South and 200 East to match as closely as possible the original 1909 structure, which he said held a car showroom.
To rent an apartment, residents must make no more than 35 percent of the city's average income. For a single person, that means making about $12,000 a year. Many of the people who had to move out of the Stratford in June when it burned have scattered to various other shelters and low-income housing, said LuAnn Clark, director of Housing and Neighborhood Development.
"We're very excited because right now it's a burned-out project," Clark said. "The property owner is going to take it back to its historic nature, plus it's going to serve low-income residents. Now they're going to be able to come back to a building that's being extensively rehabbed. It's quality affordable housing."
Each apartment will have its own bathroom and kitchenette; before the fire, Stratford residents had to share bathrooms and kitchens with neighbors down the hall.
Logue will retool the building's footings, foundation and structural walls. He will reframe the hotel, redo the insulation and re-roof the place. All doors, windows, plaster work, tiling, paint and floors will be new. All bathrooms and kitchens will be new, and the heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical systems will be fresh. Logue will also update the fire detection system — "we could have used that" this past year, Clark said.
"These rooms are going to be brand new just like a market-rate apartment," Logue said. "We are replacing everything. It won't get any better."
Two of the apartments will be dedicated to people coming out of homelessness. Logue's contacts with homeless shelters will help him fill those apartments, he said. Similarly, five apartments will be dedicated for people with HIV/AIDS, and five others will go to developmentally disabled residents.
The Stratford's first floor held an Indian restaurant and an art gallery. Logue hasn't found tenants for the renovated commercial space yet, but he hopes to include a restaurant again, he told the council Thursday night.
"I'm glad that you're doing this building, and it will be great to have it back in use," said Nancy Saxton, a council member whose district includes the Stratford. "I'm glad it's going to be preserved."
E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com