9/11 foundation buys hotel near Colorado and I-25 to house homeless vets

1680 S. Colo

The Fairfield Inn property at 1680 S. Colorado Blvd. has sold. (Google Maps)

A Fairfield Inn hotel property along Colorado Boulevard has sold at a loss to a foundation founded in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which plans to convert it into housing for military veterans.

The Stephen Siller Tunnels to Towers Foundation paid $12.7 million on Tuesday, according to public records, for the hotel at 1680 S. Colorado Blvd. 

The foundation is named after a firefighter who died in the attacks, which happened this week 23 years ago. It aims to help families of Sept. 11 victims, as well as first responders, and has a goal of ending veteran homelessness. 

The foundation told BusinessDen that the conversion of the property will allow it to house approximately 120 veterans. The facility will also have support services on-site, from job training and benefits assistance to PTSD counseling and addiction treatment.

The foundation is pursuing other veteran housing projects for veterans — some, but not all of which, also involve converting former hotels — in cities such as Atlanta, Memphis and Las Vegas.

The hotel near the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Mexico Avenue sits between a gas station and an office building, and across from a Best Buy. It was sold by Maryland-based RLJ Lodging Trust, which bought it in 2006 for $11.29 million, records show.

The Staten Island, New York-based Tunnels to Towers reported $305.3 million in revenue in tax forms from 2022, the most recent year publicly available. It reported expenses of $286.8 million the same year. Both figures have climbed significantly in recent years; the foundation didn’t report more than $50 million in revenue until 2020. In recent months, Tunnels to Towers has been scrutinized for its payments to a company controlled by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

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