[High Plains Drifter]

1950s office could become hotel in downtown Santa Fe

The ivy-covered current home of Vital Spaces artist studios on Otero Street could be converted into a 31-room downtown hotel, according to documents filed with the city of Santa Fe.

Property owners Marc Bertram and Andy Duettra will seek initial approval Tuesday night from the city's Historic Districts Review Board to renovate and expand the Territorial Revival-style building at 220 Otero St. It was built in 1953 as the local office for construction giant Robert E. McKee General Contractor, which also built Los Alamos National Laboratory buildings in the 1940s and 1950s and other prominent structures in Santa Fe.