With six floors, 45 apartments and one elevator, the Wyoming National Apartments became home for 10 families on Friday. Six more families are moving in today and the rest will do so throughout the week.

For some families, the new affordable apartments in a once abandoned high-rise bank building downtown are a more attractive option than their former home. For others, the apartments are a way to live independently.

For Chris Tholl, 19, and Megan Jones, 20, moving day was the beginning of an adventure into the unknown.

When the Casper natives decided to leave their parents' homes, they found themselves with no credit, no rental history and limited options.

"We kept getting turned down in applications," Jones said, shivering in the Wyoming wind as her voice croaked from a cold that inconveniently hit on moving day.

Tholl said the main draw of the apartments, which included a lengthy application requiring a letter from a former landlord and current employer, was the affordable price.

He works for Enterprise Rent-A-Car and she works at Petco. Even with their combined incomes, they said it was tough to find an affordable apartment. A one-bedroom apartment at the new Wyoming National complex goes for roughly $400 a month.

The two started moving in at 7:45 a.m. Friday morning. With the help of a friend, they hoped to be done before noon. Tholl said they planned Friday to sleep on a futon in their sixth floor, one-bedroom apartment and eat pizza, in a place of their own.

They will take their new home one year at a time, but are assured that even if their income increases beyond their maximum income of $28,860 during the first year of occupancy, they will not be forced to leave.

Each of the 45 apartments are finished and the lobby is nearing completion.

Owner Stephen Grimshaw paused as he moved in from one project to another, taking care of the finishing touches.

By the end of the weekend, he hopes to have the lobby ready as a staging area for movers, and a recycling area for cardboard boxes.

Billy and Alvina Stack waited nearby in the lobby for the keys to their new two-bedroom apartment. Alvina Stack was thinking about her new kitchen.

The semi-retired couple hadn't planned on moving out of their Casper Village apartment, but when one of their seven children asked them to look at the Wyoming National Apartments, they decided that's were where they wanted to live.

The rent is slightly higher than their old place, but for most of their 20 years in Casper they lived downtown and wanted to be there again, they said. The selling point for Alvina Stack was the kitchen. There's a simple half-wall separating it from the living room, which means Alvina won't be isolated when she cooks.

Billy Stack said the building's age was appealing to him.

"These old buildings are so much better built than the new ones," he said, glancing around the lobby and leaning against the staircase rail. The building, which survived a scare when part of its roof caught fire in summer 2006 during the remodeling process, was built in 1921.

Billy and Alvina Stack will begin moving in today. They anticipate spending most of January moving the important belongings in and getting rid of all their unwanted items.

Reach reporter Christine Robinson at (307) 266-0639 or christine.robinson@trib.com