City of Albuquerque plans to convert hotel into 100 apartments

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Much like the name implies, Hotel Circle is lined with shortstay options in northeast Albuquerque.

“We think this particular area of town has had a lot of crime challenges and I want to remind people in the surrounding areas, we’re going to take care of this property,” Mayor Tim Keller said. “This is going to be sustainable housing. It’s going to be much better than transient hotel situations we’ve had in this area.”

Keller said the city is turning the closed SureStay Hotel at Eubank and Lomas into an affordable housing complex with 100 one-bedroom units.

The property cost the city close to $6 million, with another $3-4 million earmarked for renovations. City officials said converting the property is much cheaper than building from scratch.

“If we wanted to build a new 100-unit apartment community, it would cost between 20 and 25 million dollars,” said Dan Jiron, with the city’s Family and Community Services Department. “This is substantially less and gets online quicker.”

The city hopes to complete renovations by the end of the year. Keller says this is just the beginning.

There is a community meeting Tuesday for folks interested in the project. It’s at the Manzano Mesa Multigenerational Center from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

City officials said they will also have a contest to rename that property.