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February 27, 2018 • Local News

El Paso Inc: $40 million Blue Flame project is a go

The Housing Authority of the City of El Paso has won the historical designation it needed to push ahead with the transformation of the Blue Flame building.

Their plan is to turn the long-vacant office building into apartments, offices and retail space. And they’re not wasting any time.

“We start our demo on asbestos Monday,” said Gerald Cichon, CEO of the housing authority. “We’re going.”

Bill Helm, the El Paso architect on the project, received word in an email last week that the National Park Service had approved placing the Blue Flame building on the National Register of Historic Places.

That makes the housing authority eligible for $16.7 million in federal and state historic tax credits. The project has also received $15 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

When finished in about two years, the 16-story building will have 12 floors of apartments for low-income residents, three floors of offices and retail on the ground floor, Cichon said.

It will mean a new life for an important building in El Paso’s past that seemed to have no future.

“The only reason we think this will be a viable project is because of the tax credit money that we’re receiving,” Cichon said. “We’re receiving over $30 million in tax credits with the historic and traditional tax credits.

“That’s really what makes this possible. And, because we’re government, we’re able to get these things. It would have been much more difficult for a private entity to do what we are doing.”

On paper, it’s a 22-month project, but Cichon is expecting the unexpected.

“The amount of work that has to be done is massive,” he said. “The infrastructure in this building is gone. Everything is from 1953. It has to be completely gutted and rebuilt.

“The issue we have with asbestos throughout the building has to be addressed. That’s why this is so expensive. The only thing that’s going to be left of this building is the shell. Everything else will be brand new.”

Significant delays could jeopardize the tax credits, which is why the housing authority is moving quickly and why they went with Sunt Construction of Tempe, Arizona, as the lead contractor, he said.

“They’re skilled and they can do high-rises,” he said. “They’ve proved that to us in the past.”

Franklin Development of San Antonio will help the housing authority with the tax credit issues that are critical to the project’s funding.

Alamo Architects of San Antonio will handle the design work along with Helm and his El Paso firm, In*Situ, which nominated the Blue Flame for the National Register.

The National Park Service approved the designation Feb. 13, Helm said, opening the way to the project’s eligibility for historic tax credits that have made other Downtown projects possible.

They include the Mills Building, Bassett Tower and the Martin Building preservation and renovation projects.

Cichon said the new Blue Flame will have a big impact on future development in El Paso.

“We’re saving a historic treasure in the middle of Downtown, and it’s the last foundational building block in Downtown,” he said, acknowledging that other structures, such as the Caples Building, still need to be addressed.

The project will add 120 new apartments to the growing residential inventory Downtown, but not everyone has supported the idea of bringing in low-income residents.

“There’s a lot of bias against our people based on, I guess, a traditional thinking about public housing,” he said. “The population that’s moving down there will be predominantly 52 years of age or older, or disabled.

“This isn’t a population that causes problems. This is going to be an amazing development with some fantastic people, and I think people will be very surprised to meet them and see how wonderful they are.”

In past discussions of the project, Cichon has said it would include a mix of low-income and market-rate apartments, but he made no mention of market-rate apartments on Friday.

The tower was built in the 1950s for El Paso Natural Gas It became known for the flame weather beacon on top of the building, which used to change colors depending on the weather forecast. The flame was lit by the same operator, who called the National Weather Service every night for nearly 40 years, according to the application.

The building was vacated when El Paso Natural Gas moved its headquarters to Houston in 1996, and the El Paso Independent School District briefly had its administrative offices in the building.

Source: http://www.elpasoinc.com/news/local_news/million-blue-flame-project-is-a-go/article_2f47b700-1a5a-11e8-b010-ff40c368eeb9.html