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Crawford House becomes Crawford Apartments, continuing the property's duty to serve - Colorado Springs Gazette.Crawford House becomes Crawford Apartments, continuing the property’s duty to serve The Crawford House’s longtime record of service is being reinstated.The property at 415 S.Weber St.– which in the past rotated a total of 2,200 homeless veterans in and out of emergency housing and counseling – has a new assignment.After more than $750,000 in renovations, the building has been transformed into Crawford Apartments, an eight-unit residential complex for subsidized housing recipients and other applicants who are struggling economically, including military veterans.The man behind the project, Aaron Smith, served 14 years as a U.S.Navy SEAL before focusing his architectural talents and interests on adaptive reuse, community-centered development and preservation.“Everything around us downtown is new development with luxury apartments,” he said.“We have a whole population of people that don’t qualify and maybe still want to be downtown but have been priced out of downtown.” The Crawford building had featured an open-space, group-home setting inside and now flaunts an urban-industrial vibe with a southwestern flair.Look for the light and dark blue painted tiles on the exterior of the building, which abuts the funky, diagonal street named Pueblo Avenue.With exposed overhead ductwork and pipes, painted cinderblock walls and a big-city feel, the apartments caught the eye of Jazmyn Carr, who recently moved into the downtown complex from living in the Briargate area.“The modern industrial look has been appealing to me since I was a kid,” she said.Carr previously served in the Air Force, and Smith’s backstory sealed her love for her new apartment.“It’s basically like he’s paying it forward in his own way,” she said.“This is my first time with a human-to-human landlord, and it’s been a great experience.It takes a lot of the stress out of getting a place.” The Crawford property is named for William J.Crawford, a World War II Medal of Honor recipient born in Pueblo and who worked in Colorado Springs following a 23-year military career.Crawford was presumed dead in battle but had become a prisoner of war in Germany until his release in 1944.He later was discovered working as a civilian janitor at the U.S.Air Force Academy and in 1984 received the Presidential award.The makeover of the Crawford property is Smith’s first major real estate redesign project after leaving the military.His last assignment was working in special operations at U.S.Northern Command, headquartered in Colorado Springs.While on a special-ops team deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010, Smith said helping locals reestablish a village helped him realize he enjoyed design and construction.Smith purchased the Crawford site after he exited active duty in 2022 and has been working on remodeling the building since.Earlier that year, the Colorado Veterans Resource Coalition shuttered its transitional housing program for homeless vets on the site, citing financial problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.In total, the Crawford House helped more than 2,200 veterans with temporary housing, counseling, therapy for substance abuse and job training, the coalition had said.The building needed a lot of work, Smith said, including asbestos remediation, adding a lot of walls and kitchens and bathrooms to each apartment, and new landscaping.There were only two walls, one kitchen and a few communal living rooms.Otherwise, the large, two-story space was open-air with bunk beds and metal lockers, said Christina Brinkerhoff, Smith’s wife and mother of the couple’s nine-month-old baby.She’s also part of Valkyrie Racing, a female racing team that raises money to fight child trafficking.A $50,000 grant from the Downtown Development Authority helped with remodeling costs, she said.The legacy of the property will be retained, Smith said, to “leave some of the character” intact and “protect the integrity of the canvas.” From his Navy SEAL days, Smith said his trait of resilience rose to the top, and the destructive nature of special operations gave way to a next chapter in his life that he wants to dedicate to using his hands and mind to build up rather than tear down.People questioned his decision to become a Navy SEAL and tackle the renovation project.“They said, ‘You’ve never done anything like this before.’” But he said he’s always up for a challenge.His problem-solving skills provide the confidence to look at something and believe he can figure it out, Brinkerhoff said.He usually can, she added.Crawford Apartments start at $1,100 for a one-bedroom unit.Two-bedroom units go for $1,900.Smith envisions single moms, veterans transitioning from VA housing to their own place, entrepreneurs and others just starting out as tenants.And people whose rent is subsidized.For more information, call 719-284-2444.Housing vouchers are “one of the most cost-effective ways to address the housing needs of our low-income seniors, the disabled and some of our working families in the city,” said Artie Lehl, executive director of Colorado Springs Housing Authority.The local housing authority’s budget enables 1,700 housing vouchers per month to be issued, he said.The agency has 1,739 in use currently.“Like nearly all Housing Authorities along the Front Range, we are in a shortfall,” Lehl said.