SILVERTHORNE, Colo. — The Silverthorne Days Inn hotel has been a hotel for 40 years, but changes are happening in the Colorado mountain town.
The Days Inn is the latest part of Summit County's affordable housing plan that recently has been focusing on converting hotels into affordable apartments.
"You would never know you are in a hotel building with some of these units," said Summit County Commissioner Tamara Pogue.
Around 50 of the Days Inn hotel rooms have been turned into studio apartments and multi-room apartments with most having a kitchen.
"They have loft ceilings, they have stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and space for the whole family," said Pogue.
The units will enter the market in the next few weeks by lottery and will rent between $800 and $2000 a month, to help offset the high cost of living in the expensive resort community.
"We have seen a lot of our workforce move because they can’t afford to live here," said Pogue. "The cost so far this year for a single-family home in Summit County on average is $2.14 million."
While there are projects in the works to build new affordable housing units, those plans can cost more and take more time while hotel conversions can offer housing faster.
A hotel in Breckenridge and Frisco have also been converted into apartments.
"This project has taken less than a year at a fraction of the price," Pogue said. "We have actually converted over 100 units from hotels the places you all used to stay when you came to ski to workforce housing."
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