I wanted to bring in my sister to help staff El Portal, but the problem was housing. Like much of America, Sedona housing has skyrocketed in the last three years. An 800 sq ft. modest home will start at $900,000, which was just not in her budget.

We owned a commercial lot up the street behind Connie’s Place, our Short Term rentals were just up the road, so the city said we could build in the backyard. The land was paid for, so I could afford to put a little extra money into the building. We decided to build a very modern one-bedroom brick-and-glass home.

Design Group Architects designed the building, and Leakey construction built the home.

I wanted to build a lovely home for my sister and show locals that a small home needn’t be a trailer.