A nearly 120-year-old, three-story house in downtown Grand Junction may soon be repurposed as transitional housing for new city employees.
The structure, located at 756 Chipeta Avenue, is distinguished by its Victorian architecture and wrap-around front veranda. The has been previously listed for sale by the Carbondale, Colorado-based realtor Aspen Glenwood.
Now members of the Grand Junction City Council have voted in favor of submitting a $749,000 bid to buy the nearly 5,500-square-foot property.
The purpose of the bid is to secure housing space for newly hired city employees in a part of Colorado where the average rent for a one-bed apartment is at the $1,600 mark, up from around $980 a decade ago.
The ongoing rent increases in Grand Junction have made it difficult to recruit workers, particularly those who might be employed by either the city police or fire department.
According to sources, if the bid for the home is accepted, it will be divided into multiple properties to create as much new transitional housing space as possible.
The $749,000 bid is itself a reflection of growing real estate prices in Grand Junction. According to the site Zillow, the home was listed for $395,000 a decade ago.
For most of the early 20th century the building was the home to prominent Grand Junction businessman James Purcell, with its first-floor parlor open to any number of musicales and both literary and social club events.
By Garry Boulard
