Lockhart, Wyo.
(AP) The West, including the area in central Wyoming where a new owner plans to build a 1,500-unit mixed-use apartment and office complex, has become a magnet for high-end developers.
Lockhart is the hub of development, attracting luxury homes and offices that have opened in recent years.
One such property is a $1.4 billion hotel planned for the eastern edge of the city.
The hotel will sit on a 1.2-acre lot that includes a public parking lot, parking garages and a playground.
The site has been designated a historic district, which means a group of developers and others will have the right to use it.
The developers have filed plans for a hotel and condominium complex on the property.
The building would include at least five floors and a total of 500 units, and it will be built as part of the project that will include a parking garage.
It’s a rare exception in the region where many developments are geared toward attracting high-profile visitors.
It was once the home of the nation’s largest railroad, which was demolished in the 1980s.
The new owner will be able to use the property, which has been in lockhart since 2007, as it has used the adjacent site for more than a century.
The developer’s plans call for the project to have about 50 percent of the units be affordable housing.
“It’s a little bit more than we were used to seeing in the West,” said John Rafferty, president of the West-Northeast Association of Realtors.
“We don’t see the same number of high-rise developments being built.”
The group, which represents about 1,000 owners in Lockhart and surrounding communities, has long been pushing developers to develop more affordable housing in the area.
It has lobbied the local housing authority to approve the project, and its members are actively working on it.
“A lot of the development in Lockhardt is geared toward high-rises and apartment buildings,” Rafferity said.
“The city and the city of Lockhart has a great interest in keeping it as a neighborhood.
We’re trying to get more affordable development in there.”
Raffercy said the hotel and condo project could be the first high-level development in the city in years.
The company behind the development is a group called West-West Development Group, and Lockhart Mayor Michael Klineman said the project is one of many the city has been working on.
“I can’t imagine how many other projects we’re working on in Lockhaven,” Klinemann said.
The group plans to open its first property in the new development next year.
Klinemans father, James, has been a lifelong resident of Lockhaven, and he said he is very proud of what the town has accomplished.
“Lockhart has been on the front lines of the housing movement for decades,” Klinman said.
Raffery said the development will be a “great asset” to the area and will bring people from across the country and around the world.
“This is a great opportunity for Lockhaven to have the first hotel of its kind in the world,” he said.