CHRISTINE ROBINSON Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Monday, October 15, 2007 12:00 am
Casper residents used to want their own houses - with yards and picket fences - but Housing and Community Development Manager Robin Mundell said times may be changing.
"I believe some attitudes may have changed. We have people coming in to work in our community and housing continues to be more and more expensive," Mundell said. "The house with the picket fence dream is not something they can achieve immediately and people are more willing to look at alternatives."
These alternatives may not be at the fringes of town, or even in new apartment complexes, but above existing stores in the downtown area. Business owners are beginning to convert space that has been abandoned or used as storage into lofts and apartments.
Mundell also said people are becoming more social and are willing to live in more communal areas versus on solitary plots of land.
"There are people who want to free themselves from some expenses and as downtown grows and changes it will offer more opportunities to people," Mundell said. "If you have more services available they won't have to drive cars."
Casper interior designer Susan Collier owns several apartments on First Street and said when she moved here 12 years ago she wanted to live downtown.
"That provided me the space for my interior design work and gave me a place to live," she said.
She is not the only one who wanted to convert space to apartments, Brian Martin, owner of the Ugly Bug Fly Shop on Center Street, is remodeling a two-bedroom apartment above his store.
Store manager Bob Fischer said the loft may be done in one month, at which point Martin will have to sort through a growing waiting list full of eager future tenants.
Sprecher Electric owner Steve Sprecher has two floors above his store totaling 4,000 square feet. He has several ideas for the space, including a 4,000-square-foot loft with a roof garden or two 2,000-square-foot apartments.
He has also been approached by lawyers asking to turn the space into law offices because the former hotel is across Center Street from the Townsend Hotel, a possible future location of a county courthouse extension.
"All we are trying to do right now is we are trying to improve the structural shape of the building," Sprecher said. "Once we see how that is going to happen we will know how much further we can go."
The two floors were gutted to check for structural damage, the windows are being replaced and Sprecher said they are working on exposing the original brick.
"We thought maybe it is time we improve this building since we were the ugly sister on the block," he said.
He said he and his wife wanted to do something with the space when they purchased the building 10 years ago, and they feel now is the time to begin.
"We couldn't let the building continue to deteriorate," he said.
He said he thinks more people want to live downtown for the accessibility and because downtown living gives residents a different feel of a town.
"I think it's big city style living," he said. "Then you're downtown where there are restaurants and movie theaters … hopefully downtown Casper will continue to thrive."
Both Sprecher and Bob Stevenson, who owns Fashion Crossroads and lives in a 3,000-square-foot loft above the store, agree that there is a growing desire to live downtown.
Tina Wulf, director of the Downtown Development Authority, said it is her organization's responsibility to, "encourage business downtown and encourage people to work and play downtown and live downtown."
"If there's an opportunity to create more housing in our town in an area like this we would be crazy not to do it," Wulf said.
Contact city reporter Christine Robinson at (307) 266-0639 or christine.robinson@casperstartribune.net.