Albuquerque Arena Development Group Selected

[finmqa1]

It was announced this morning that the team ABQ Downtown was selected for the new arena/hotel development. ABQ Downtown consists of Garfield Traub Development (Dallas), Hunt Development (El Paso), and HOK Sports (Kansas City). The plan calls for a 16,000 seat arena, a 400-room Westin Hotel with 60 residential units on top, and 50,000 sq/ft of retail space adjacent to the convention center. This is an exciting announcement and I certainly hope the project gets under way soon. Two of the developers have experience in ABQ already, Hunt recently completed Phase I of the new ABQ Uptown Lifestyle center, and HOK built the new Isotopes Park triple-A stadium.

[wrendog]

wow! that is exciting.. what is the 16,000 seat arena hoping to lure? too big for minor league sports.. just about right for NHL.. hmm

[pablosan]

This is great news for ABQ.

[finmqa1]

They haven't really discussed any major tenants as of yet except the WNBA to my knowledge. I know there is interest here for a NBA team, but I'm not sure that we can support one though. I know the Convention and Visitors Bureau is interested in using it for large events and with the Westin Hotel we'll be more capable of handling such events. In the meantime it will largely be used as an events center rather than a home of a major league franchise.

[JimInCal]

An NBA Franchise may not be too far fetched. The Phoenix Suns first season was 1968-69, when Phoenix had a metro population of just under 1 Million. The arena was the Coliseum with less than 13K seats. Albuquerque's metro appears to have just over 800K right now (best info I could find) and is growing. So it's not out of the realm of possibility. There are other, larger markets that don't have a team though that the NBA would likley have more at the top of any expansion or move list: Las Vegas, San Diego, Tampa, Kansas City, Columbus OH to name ones that come immediately to mind. Don't give up hope for a few years down the road.

[finmqa1]

That would be nice. There are many other uses for an arena that size to hold us over until we can attract an NBA or NHL team. Arena Football (as long as it's not AF2) would probably do very well too.

[Ute_City]

An NBA Franchise may not be too far fetched. The Phoenix Suns first season was 1968-69, when Phoenix had a metro population of just under 1 Million. The arena was the Coliseum with less than 13K seats. Albuquerque's metro appears to have just over 800K right now (best info I could find) and is growing. So it's not out of the realm of possibility. There are other, larger markets that don't have a team though that the NBA would likley have more at the top of any expansion or move list: Las Vegas, San Diego, Tampa, Kansas City, Columbus OH to name ones that come immediately to mind. Don't give up hope for a few years down the road.

Oklahoma City will have the advantage over any of those other cities, assuming the New Orleans Hornets don't make their move to OK City permanent. Arena Football is definately a possibility for ABQ though. Plus you can have a bigger 'Pit' for the Lobos.

[stupac14]

This is exciting news for the ABQ metro area. Downtown development was starting to stagnate a little and this will only spur more urban growth, while adding a new fixture to the skyline. However, at a capactity 16,000 peeps, the new arena will still undershoot The Pit's maximum capacity of 18,018, but still it was a nice try Ute_City (and impressive that you are familiar with our local arena). Hopefully the developers will not beat-around the-bush on this project and I can see some progress when I come back in the summer.

[wrendog]

(and impressive that you are familiar with our local arena). \


well, he's obviously a ute fan and as such, should be very familiar with the Pit... opposing teams used to dread playing there.. not so much anymore.. of course my Cougars can't win anywhere on the road, so......

[stupac14]

Silly me, how could I forget that we share a common bond in this sub-forum; geographic location. Duh, most of us are affilated with/root for/follow/watch a team in the MWC. However, I could not tell you the names of any other arenas in the league, except I recall your Cougar's joint holding a redonkulous amount of people, like 22 k. Yeah, The Pit used to be a pretty formidable arena; sadly, no more. Now, it is the Pan American Center, where my Aggies are undefeated, that shall be feared. I digress though. There is not much love for the WHACK.

[wrendog]

the only MWC arena name I can't think of off the top of my head is TCU.. I am familiar with the names of all the others..

[JamestheKing]

This sounds great, and I hope it's true, but I'm not getting my hopes up for this one.

[ABQturkey]

Finally a rendering....love it. love

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/ABQTurkey/downtown_arena_sketch.gif

[finmqa1]

ABQTurkey good to see you here, its been a while. Where did you find the renderings? Is that the only one to date? I hope the Westin Hotel is a bit taller with 420 rooms.

[HooverDam]

Oklahoma City will have the advantage over any of those other cities, assuming the New Orleans Hornets don't make their move to OK City permanent.

The NBA has already stated that the Hornets will be moving back to N.O. I'm sure the league would rather have them in OK City though, N.O. is an awful sports town, they have never really supported any teams that have been there.

After OK City, I think Vegas is on the NBAs list, thus why they are having the All Star Game there this year. I'm not sure who they would be able to move there though- perhaps the Kings, since the Maloofs are Vegas guys and they are playing in an ancient arena in Sacramento, though that has been repeatedly denied by the Maloofs.

[ABQturkey]

Hey Mario, yea, work and my class have kept me far too busy lately. The rendering actually came from kobtv.com. They had a story on the project on Monday. The Journal finally had a story on it this morning but didn't include the rendering as usual. Right now the plan is for the condos to be detached from the hotel tower and put above the retail along 2nd street. Not that I think that's a bad idea, but I hope they also put condos on that tower to get a little more height out of it :)

Hoover Dam, I don't expect to see NBA here anytime soon. We're a college basketball town (although lately that could be argued). However, Brian Urlacher was part of a group that purchased an Arena Football 2 franchise. I have no doubt that would be a big hit around here. Also, a 16 game WNBA season I doubt would have trouble selling tickets in this town...people love their womens basketball (We have an abundance of lesbians ;)). Not to mention the amount of concerts that we miss during the fall, winter and spring from lack of an indoor venue, I don't doubt they could manage to schedule an event in the facility less than 150 days a year. It helps that the facility will be across the street from the convention center too.

[mojiferous]

I know this isn't the place for this, but...

I just got back from visiting family in Las Cruces, and had not been through ABQ in almost 5 years- and I was amazed at the amount of development downtown! That's all...

[Deno]

How is this project going to be financed?
Just curious
Deno from Sacramento

[finmqa1]

Deno - It will be a combination of state, city, and private funds. Now who wants to pony up what? That's what they're working on now.

[wrendog]

How bout the Albuquerque Sonics? :)

nah, OKC has that team pretty much in the bag

[Deno]

Thanks for the info Finmqa1. Our state would never contribute to any arena in this city(Sacramento) and the city is very reluctant to help out also. Stern is trying to negotiate with the city and the Maloffs an arena deal to keep the Kings in Sacramento.