Tax credits for reconstruction of Blue Flame Building bound to 18 month timeline
City officials and the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso announced Monday a $40 million renovation of the Blue Flame Building is underway.
The building, located at the corner of Stanton and Texas, will be remodeled into the city’s first high-rise residential development in the downtown area. It will be 18 stories tall, with the first floor dedicated to commercial space, and the remaining floors will house 180 units: 120 affordable housing units and 30 market-rate living spaces.
$31 million in renovations will be paid for with tax credits. The City and HACEP competed with other Texas cities to claim a $15 million tax credit from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which administers the state’s housing tax credit program. The project also earned another $16.8 million historic tax credit. The awards means HACEP needs to restore the building to certain standards.
“Anything that looks (historic) is probably going to have to stay because that is the whole aspect of historic – we are making it look like it did in 1953,” said HACEP CEO Gerald Cichon, “Everything inside that building, besides the historic aspects of it, will be (reconstructed). We have to rebuild the building from the inside out – you are talking hvac and heaters, water lines, electric lines – everything has to be modernized. It has to be a stable housing platform.”
HACEP has a year-and-a half to turn the run-down building into a facility with 120 living spaces for senior families. State tax credits expire if they aren’t used in a timely manner, which means if construction lags, the project could be at risk of falling through. Cichon is not concerned. “It’s not going to happen. I mean, we have always succeeded on the timeframe for tax credits and we will succeed this time as well,” he said.
The Blue Flame Building was originally built in 1954 as the official headquarters to the now-Houston based El Paso Natural Gas Company. The building was vacated in 1986 when EPNG relocated to Colorado.
“We’re going to have to gut the entire building,” said Cichon, “Everything that was here from 1953 is so outdated, it’s just not really practical to keep it anymore.”
When City and HACEP officials gathered to reignite the iconic blue flame in downtown El Paso in October 2017, Cichon said that in order to have a “thriving downtown,” there has to be a “residential component downtown.”
All of the construction is to pave the way for the city’s Historic Downtown Redevelopment Effort. “This is really a beacon to the American dream,” said Cichon. “It’s a beacon of hope, and as that is lit it’s going to make sure that we’re here to take care of those less fortunate as they pull themselves up from economic challenges.”
