New Mexico investor transforms abandoned Route 66 motels into apartment housing

A New Mexico investor is renovating abandoned motels along Route 66 into apartments to help increase the local housing stock, CS Monitor reported on October 6. The initiative addresses a growing housing shortage as former tourist motels sit unused along the historic highway. [1]

According to CS Monitor, Karina Chavez took over the real estate work alongside her father, Richard Chavez, after economic collapse in 1994 brought her family to Albuquerque. Richard Chavez had worked as an architect in Mexico before moving to the United States and selling homes, working with his daughter for 15 years prior to his death two years ago. [1]

Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico, a state that grapples with high poverty rates of 16.4 percent, which exceeds the national average. Nationwide, an increasingly severe housing shortage and rising home prices contributed to an estimated 745,652 people experiencing homelessness in January 2025. [3][4][6]

The renovation project continues to repurpose shuttered roadside properties into functional multi-family housing units to serve community residents. [1]