Apartments to get fresh start

It’s easy to ignore the old Stadium Apartments at 2405 Kermit Highway.

Sitting across from Odessa College, the paint-chipped exterior and entrance sign with letters missing from the word “stadium,” the complex can almost be written off as just another rundown eyesore in Odessa.

However, Angel Nabarrette looks at the easily forgotten property and sees a new start — and a business opportunity.

The owner of A N Homes said he took on renovations of the property less than a year ago with the purpose of fixing the entire complex and using the rooms for what they were originally built for: housing people.

With a planned name change to “The Blue,” the Stadium apartments will soon be ready for a fresh start.

“They were built to house people, so that’s what they’re going to continue to do,” Nabarrette said.

Once completed the apartment complex will add much needed housing to Odessa — a continuous problem city officials said they have been looking to solve in the expanding economy.

With the current oil boom in the Permian Basin and the proposed Summit project, which is expected to create up to 2,000 construction jobs and create 150 full-time jobs after completion, Odessa Mayor Larry Melton said finding ways to create more housing is a top issue.

“I think we’re all concerned with the availability of housing,” Melton said.

While not readily aware of Nabarette’s construction project on the apartments, Melton said city officials and the Odessa Development Corp were looking for more ways to create new housing structures.

Guy Andrews, Chamber of Commerce economic development director, said the occupancy rate for apartments was reported at 97 percent back in July. The occupancy rate report happens only once a year, but Andrews said he believes the number is higher now than it was in the summer.

“We know … (capacity) is running at 100 percent,” he said, although he didn’t have figures from an updated report.

Currently, potential renters can expect to pay anywhere from $500 to more than $1,000 a month for a single bedroom apartment in Odessa depending on where they look.

Nabarrette said he plans on renting out the apartments at “The Blue” and in another complex he’s renovating — The Wayne Apartments, also on Kermit Highway — for around $600 a month to make them “affordable.”

Although the project is about a month behind schedule, a completion date of Dec. 15 has been set. Once the new complex is opened, a few of the rooms will immediately be rented by employees with Halliburton. However, Nabarrette said that doesn’t mean the units will be strictly for oilfield workers.

“It’s open for everyone (to rent),” Nabarrette said.

Andrews said oil companies will lease out several hotel rooms at a time and house employees in them while they’re working in the area.

Calls made to Halliburton throughout the week were not returned.

But while the deal between oil companies and the hotels helps keep work in Odessa, it’s troublesome for some.

James Parks, manager for the Red Cross of Southwest Texas, said because of the hotel rooms continuously being filled, it makes it hard to find rooms to for people who lose their homes in apartment fires.

Eight people were displaced after the Thanksgiving fire at the Las Placitas Apartments, 2909 E. University Blvd. More than two weeks later, the Red Cross was still assisting half those people Parks said.

But because of the rooms being rented out, Parks said it’s starting to get harder to place fire victims.

“It’s really tough competing with the oil companies,” he said.

With more people expected to move into the area because of the Summit project and for oil companies, Melton said the city has been looking at ways to expand not just by building apartments, but by building permanent housing structures as well. City officials say one option could be building on empty lots, where pipes are already in the ground.

But because housing is in such high demand, Melton said he was not surprised to see contractors and companies renovating old structures.

“I think there are some entrepreneurs out there taking advantage of the situation,” he said.

Burnett Construction started a project similar to Nabarrette’s in 2008; renovating six abandoned apartment complexes near West 22nd Street and North West County Road. Renting units as apartments were complete, contractor John Burnett said construction finally finished in 2010 and all his apartments have been filled ever since.

Because of the high demand, Burnett said he has a long waiting list, and those who do rent in the complex have been well behaved in fear of being evicted.

“We have very good management and everyone follows the rules,” Burnett said. “They know if they screw up; there’s people waiting in line behind them.”

The success of the complex has Burnett wanting to take on another project, but finding additional buildings right now is a challenge.

“If it’s rentable, it’s being rented,” he said.

@OAgovernment