You don’t see this very much these days — an apartment complex in the Lower Avenues is in the process of converting a portion of its units into condominiums, according to applications filed with Salt Lake City.
The Hillcrest apartments complex is in the process of converting its annex building of 12 apartment units into condos. Though the address on applications lists the complex at 155 or 189 E. 1st Avenue, the annex portion fronts A Street and is located on the southwest corner of 2nd Avenue and A Street. The annex building is not connected to the main Hillcrest building, which consists of four to five floors of apartment units.
The land is zoned as RMF-75 and is located within the Avenues Historic District.
The owners of the building, listed as Preserve Partners in Salt Lake City, submitted requests to subdivide two plots into three, as well as to subdivide the building into 12 units. Messages to Preserve Partners were not returned.
Documents submitted to Salt Lake City show the three-story building has four units on each floor. End units on all three floors consist of 1,258 square feet each, and the two interior units on each floor consist of 922 square feet. The building also has a basement that totals 4,422 square feet.
A property condition report compiled by McNeil Engineering indicated the end units each have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, while the interior units have one bedroom and one bathroom each. The report also says plumbing fixtures for washing machines are in each unit. The same report says the structure was built in 1925, and outlines a handful of upgrades needed for the building.
Converting apartment units into condos isn’t a widespread phenomenon in Salt Lake City — though with rent prices trending downward and the strong demand for home ownership opportunities, the conversion makes sense, especially given the neighborhood.
Chris Corroon, a Salt Lake City consultant who helped sell the condos at the Gateway and City Creek, told Building Salt Lake the Lower Avenues is an ideal place for condo units, largely due to the scale of its buildings and the neighborhood’s proximity to Downtown and other amenities. He said corridors like South Temple are especially desirable in the condo market.
“The Avenues to me is bulletproof,” Corroon said. “The Avenues has that sense of place and walkability.”
Corroon said he hasn’t heard of many apartment buildings being converted into condominium units, but he added the Hillcrest annex’s location would likely make the conversion effort a success. He said it’s more likely for buildings with a smaller unit count to make the transition to condos, but converting larger buildings into condos can be challenging.
It’s not clear when construction on the building could be finished, nor when the condo units could be brought to market.
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