JUST LIKE ASPEN

There’s an old saying that goes “buy it nice or buy it twice.” When it comes to the Aspen Village Apartments, it seems the developers chose the latter.

The complex was one of the first affordable housing projects brought to life nearly 20 years ago by the since renamed nonprofit Mammoth Lakes Housing (now Eastern Sierra Community Housing). It was developed and is now owned by Pacific Companies; the same developers that are currently working on the Parcel, the Town of Mammoth Lakes’ most ambitious (and expensive) current housing project. 

The complex — formerly painted green, red, and beige — sits on Old Mammoth Road, next to Snowcreek Athletic Club. This week, its siding was stripped off as part of a major renovation, revealing water damage and rot beneath.

Jeff Boucher, a contractor in Mammoth, said the need for repair suggests serious neglect or flawed construction.

“Usually, you don’t have to replace your siding unless it’s gone 15-20 years without any stain or paint,” he said. “Something major is wrong.”

He was around when the buildings went up in 2006, and said the way it was built was “really strange,” and that it seemed like the priority was getting the units built fast, regardless of quality.

“They just threw up the cheapest thing they could to make housing,” he said.

True to his point, Aspen Village was built using a method that was unusual for Mammoth at the time.

The Aspen Village condos are modular homes, meaning they were built in a factory in Idaho, transported to the site and craned onto the foundation. Most of the siding was applied in the factory, with only the connection points finished on-site, said Pam Foster, former Executive Director of Mammoth Lakes Housing. She was the organization’s Development Director when the complex went up.

“It was the first of its kind here,” she said.

Foster’s best guess as to why siding failed is because it originally wasn’t slated to hold up against the amount of snow and wind the property gets. Or, she said, it might have been a “bad batch” of material. 

Either way, she doesn’t think it’s a big deal, as it’s Pacific’s responsibility to fix, not the public’s. And she’s right … at least since no Town dollars are going into the renovation, confirmed Nolan Bobroff, Mammoth Lakes Community Development Director. 

When Eastern Sierra Community Housing contracted Pacific to build the project, the developers signed into an ongoing obligation to maintain and repair those units. Part of the tenants’ rent goes into a Town-managed, state-mandated “capital reserve” fund. That fund is typically used for smaller expenses, like replacing carpet between leases, but it can also be applied to major renovations if the Town chooses to approve it.

That request usually comes after repairs are already complete.

“We review [the request] to make sure that it complies with what reserves can be used for and say, ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” Bobroff said. “And that’s just whether they can remove those funds from the reserve account to reimburse them.”

If the reserve doesn’t cover the cost, or if the Town denies the request, it’s up to Pacific to fund the difference. 

In this case, Pacific previously applied for tax credit financing that is specifically for rehab to bridge the gap, but wasn’t successful, and is applying for those funds again in September. 

If Pacific fails to keep the building up to snuff or cannot finance the renovations, the Town can put it in default. To ensure compliance, the Town hires a third party inspector to assess the complex on an annual basis. 

Put simply, Pacific maintains the project, but the Town regulates it.

“That’s part of the beauty of these projects,” Foster said. “It’s not like somebody who comes in and builds a project can walk away and leave other owners or the renters responsible for the upkeep.”

As for how these repairs are influencing the Town’s planning for the Parcel: they’re not. Bobroff blames the big winter of 2022–23 for the damage and, like Foster, sees the repairs as a sign of responsible upkeep, not a red flag.

“[Pacific] ultimately owns the asset in the long term, so they’re going to want to keep it in good repair since they have a lot invested into it,” Bobroff said. “That’s their revenue source to recoup their investment, so if it’s falling apart, that’s obviously eating into their revenues to do additional repairs.”

So, we’ll see in another two decades whether Pacific bought it nice this time… or if they’ll be buying it thrice.