Cheyenne Is Reshaping Housing Market With New Upscale Apartment Complex On West Side

CHEYENNE — The general manager for the Spice Zone Indian Restaurant across from the almost-completed West End apartments can barely contain his excitement when asked about the small eatery’s new neighbor. 

He’s not just expecting more foot traffic from the incoming residents of the upscale apartments, he’s actively thinking of ways to win them over. Discount coupons for all the new tenants are top of mind, he says with a nod and a wide grin. 

Across the street at Black Tooth Brewery, a bartender confirmed the taproom has been buzzing. Customers are talking about the new apartments and staff are talking about how the next-door complex is bound to boost traffic at the popular West Side brewery.

Those economic ripple effects from transforming a vacant lot are exactly what Sophie Maes expects to see. 

As interim executive director for Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority, Maes has been watching construction of the upscale apartment complex with high hopes. 

She said she believes not only will it chip away at Cheyenne’s acute housing crunch, it will also be a much-needed booster shot to the downtown economy.

“Residential inventory downtown is really important for the overall health of the community and the economy,” Maes said. “Folks who live in the neighborhood tend to shop there for their services and all their goods.”

Getting more people walking about in the downtown area will create an immediate sense of vibrancy, she added.  

“It shows that there’s things happening,” she said. “It’s a place people want to be in.”

That street-level vibrancy has been hard to achieve, Maes said, because there simply aren’t enough people living downtown. Only about 900 people live in Cheyenne’s core now, compared to the 8,000 to 8,500 who work there during the day. 

“Typically, you want about 25% of your portfolio to be residential,” she said. “I think ours is 7 to 10%. So it’s pretty low.”

City leaders, meanwhile, hope West End will do more than fill a few dozen empty apartments. They see it as a key test of whether Cheyenne can use urban-renewal tools to fix a housing shortage that threatens long-term growth.

First New Apartment Complex In Many Years

The Downtowner reopened with restored, extended-stay suites in what was the old Central Plaza Hotel in 2023. 

But West End, with its 101 units, will be the first major apartment complex completed in Cheyenne’s downtown in many years. 

West End is actually one of two The Stencil Group has underway. The second, called The Aire, is putting the finishing touches on a 97-unit building off U.S. Highway 30 on Cheyenne’s east edge, according to Aire property manager Alana Skorupski. 

After that, Aire will start a similarly sized building at the same location. 

With West End, that will bring The Stencil Group’s contribution to Cheyenne’s housing market to roughly 300 units.

The new units come at a key time. The capital city is in the middle of a major growth spurt, with data centers coming in and a multi-year project at F.E. Warren Air Force Base that will replace the nation’s aging nuclear missile system. 

These projects will all bring large numbers of construction workers, as well as long-term engineers and support staff who will need somewhere to live. Without more housing, city leaders in Cheyenne worry the city could miss out on the full economic benefit of the projects it has landed.

Mayor Patrick Collins told Cowboy State Daily his challenge to The Stencil Group was 1,000 units by 2030.

“I don’t know if they can get there,” he said. “But I think they’re going to get to 500 units pretty quickly. And that’s going to really help us with our goal to get about 5,000 units that the WCDA said we needed to have by year 2030.”

Housing Crunch Hurts State’s Economy

Housing is not just a critical need in Cheyenne. Based on a housing study completed by Wyoming Community Development Authority in 2024, Wyoming is facing a critical housing shortage and needs between 20,700 to 38,600 new units to keep pace with demand. 

With numbers like that, The Stencil Group hasn’t only placed bets on housing in Cheyenne. It’s also built units in Casper and Gillette, Skorupski said. 

Lack of housing has been hurting Wyoming’s broader economy, Collins said, by pushing entry-level employees to places that have more affordable places to live. 

“A group from Harvard University was here looking at the state of Wyoming and trying to understand why our economy is lagging behind all of our neighbors — Colorado, Utah, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska,” the mayor said. “Our GDP is not growing and theirs is. Why is that?”

Their conclusion, Collins said, is that Wyoming is struggling to retain its workforce. 

“The numbers are that 67% of our kids, by the time they turn 30, leave the state and typically don’t come back,” Collins said. “And 70% of our college graduates do the same thing, so we don’t have a workforce. And what they realized is part of the reason we don’t have the workforce is there’s no housing for them.”

7,000 Cheyenne Homes By 2030

In Cheyenne, the shortage ranges between 5,000 to 7,000 homes needed by 2030, Collins said. That’s just to keep pace with the expected workforce demands.

That spurred the Cheyenne City Council to not only look for developers to build apartments and houses, but also to change some regulations to help make building less expensive. That includes eliminating minimum parking requirements and density caps for multi-family units, as well as removing rigid aesthetic requirements for materials on building facades. 

The council also created a zoning to allow smaller cottage-style homes that share certain amenities, to help lower the costs of building single-family units. 

West End is also another test case for Cheyenne’s urban-renewal tools. Collins said the project used tax increment financing (TIF) of $7.4 million to help The Stencil Group’s projects pencil out and turn underused lots into assets. 

The money was used for tearing out blighted structures, cleaning up potential asbestos and lead issues, and upgrading curb appeal.

The hope is the projects will help spark more private investment around them, Collins said. The West End apartments, in particular, are a game changer, though, he said. 

While they’re at the top end of the market, they’ll still help increase the mobility of the housing market, Collins said. As families who can afford to upgrade move into them, that frees up the less-expensive apartments. 

“It’s really healthy for our housing stock to see something like this happen,” he said. “And if you get 101 families living downtown, that’s going to have a huge impact on all of those businesses. It helps with our (housing) numbers, it helps with strengthening our downtown. To me, it’s a great project.”

Deluxe Apartment In The Sky

West End Apartments and The Aire both offer high-end amenities, including a theater room with a fleet of massage chairs that “do everything but bring you your food,” Skorupski said. 

There’s a fourth-floor Sky Lounge that serves as a hang-out or party room for residents, where they can gather to watch television or play pool. They could also sit on the sky deck, enjoying a cocktail while watching the sun set over Cheyenne.

On the ground floor, there’s a free coffee bar with a television and comfortable seating, as well as a fitness center.

Extras such as storage units, covered garages, and barbecue grills are also available. A pickleball court and dog park are coming. 

There’s even a trash chute. No one has to manhandle their garbage to an elevator and take it to the ground floor. Just open a chute, toss in the garbage, and, poof, it will disappear.

Demand has been good for both West End and The Aire, which are already more than 60% pre-leased, Skorupski said. They’ll both be open by mid-September, she said. 

The hottest ticket item in each complex is the 555-square-foot studios, she added. At the Aire, those are sold out. 

The largest square footage apartments at The Aire are the two bedrooms, at 1,080 square feet. 

Base costs at West End and The Aire range from $1,204 to $2,284, according to their rental listings online, depending on the model.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.