Renovated apartments open in former Multipurpose Center master plan area in Durangito

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A historic apartment building in the former Multipurpose Performing Arts and Entertainment Center master plan area has been renovated and reopened for rent.

The Retreat at Union Plaza is the rebranded name of the building at 315 W. Overland Street, a block south of the convention center in downtown El Paso. The property sits across the street from the original footprint area for the Multipurpose Center.

Property manager Justin Churchman told KVIA the renovations began three years ago, while the lawsuit over the Multipurpose Center was still in progress.

"Our intention with the project was to provide a safe and secure, establishment for new tenants to come in," Churchman said.

For the building owners, it was the nearby walkable amenities like the ballpark, plaza theater and restaurants that are part of the reason for the six-figure investment into the renovations.

"We saw potential for a space that we own ourselves, that we could renovate to help the city grow," Churchman said, "to become stronger, and to bring in new people with a strong economic desire to expand El Paso." 

The renovation project for the building, originally built as a tenement in about the 1920s, took three years. Work was started while the fate and the original position of the Multipurpose Center was still being decided. 

Churchman says when the property was purchased in 2016, the occupancy had dwindled to three, and then one, apartment unit. Once the remaining leases expired, the renovations were started to bring all 16 single bedroom units up to a modern standard. One of the units will be be used as a temporary rental.

"So our goal was not to remove people forcibly," Churchman said, "but to provide a space for them to come back to and a new home that's been restored for the first time in anywhere from 25 to 30 years."

The property owner has rented out half of the available apartments, and expect to be full within the next couple of months. After that, there are plans to renovate more projects and buildings the company owns on the same block.