Jonathan Howard is the Operations Director at Edelweiss Condominiums located at the corner of High Street and Mallette Road. He and his wife Shyloh have been the smiling faces at the front desk since 2017. Their time at the helm of the 24-unit complex has produced some interesting results worthy of note.
Tripadvisor, which defines itself as “an American online travel company that operates a website and mobile app with user-generated content and a comparison shopping website,” has awarded Edelweiss Condominiums the People’s Choice Award five years in a row.
“Last year,” Howard says, “because we won five years in a row, Edelweiss was nominated in the top 10% of hotels and lodging places in the United States. It’s funny that a little bitty ol’ place in a little bitty town would receive this award.”
A photo shoot for the front cover of a Texas condo magazine was planned for October, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 upsurge.
Howard smiles when he says they didn’t know they were entered for consideration. He has no idea how Edelweiss got into the running.
“We just want people to have a great time in Red River, bring their families and enjoy themselves.”
Edelweiss was built as an apartment complex for summer workers only. A few years later it became condominiums. Howard says they were the first condo complex in town to have a swimming pool. Apparently there was some kind of “rub” with the town which refused to let them hook up to town water and sewer. They had to dig their own wells.
Brad Bury and Robert Stamm were responsible for construction of the Edelweiss, which begun in 1963 and was completed in 1965.
Susan Evans, the daughter of Robert Stamm, says her father and Bury were in the construction business in Texas and found building in Red River to be challenge. Evans also says that the Edelweiss was the first condominium complex built in the state of New Mexico.
For Howard, living and working in Red River is the ideal situation. It is clear that Edelweiss and the town hold a very special place in his life.
“Every year my Dad and Mom would spend two weeks vacation in Red River since I was a boy. I knew a lot of the folks here. We use to stay at the Cottonwood. It was right across from Columbine Camp Grounds. We stayed there since I was about 10-11, then we started staying at Eisenhut.”