$2M bond plan may be key to city’s future
By Astrid Galvan / Journal Staff Writer on Sun, Mar 3, 2013
The economic and research future that University of New Mexico and Albuquerque city leaders envision could get a kick-start with a $2 million bond proposal that would go before voters this year.
That future would be modeled after Innovation Square in Florida, a joint venture among the University of Florida, government and the private sector that combines research, technology and private enterprise in one big development.
UNM President Bob Frank brought the idea to state, private sector and city officials, including Mayor Richard Berry, who said he is adding the $2 million proposal to his bond package. If the City Council approves it, the proposal will go before voters in October.
Berry, Frank and several other local leaders visited the 40-acre Innovation Square, in Gainesville, Fla., in January. They came back ready to push for a similar project here.
“… One of the areas that Albuquerque could benefit greatly, from an economic development standpoint, is commercializing research from the university,” Berry said. “Bob Frank recognizes that, I recognize that and I think the whole university recognizes that.”
Frank, who joined the university last June, has said the project could be the key to economic development in the city and state.
“This is a first-of-its-kind venture between the City and UNM to identify and invest in opportunities that leverage business and technology partnerships to create and grow jobs in Albuquerque. This new bold approach is essential for us to succeed and I am thrilled that the mayor is willing to put funding toward this effort,” Frank said Friday.
The project is in the earliest stages and does not yet have a name. But UNM has already hired a local firm to conduct a feasibility study on six buildings that could serve as a headquarters.
Lobo Development Corp., the nonprofit that handles UNM’s large real estate developments, holds a non-binding option to purchase one of those properties — the First Baptist Church at Broadway and Central. That property has been on the market for several years and was almost purchased by Albuquerque Public Schools in 2010. But nearly a year later, the district backtracked on the $11.3 million purchase after a report found soil and groundwater contamination there.
The rest of the buildings are either city or university owned, although details were not available late Friday.
If the bond passes, some or all of it could go to buying a building, Berry said.
Berry said he sees the city’s role in its version of Innovation Square as a catalyst, calling the bond option a “tremendous opportunity for taxpayers.” He compared it to the Sandia Science & Technology Park, a high-tech campus that comprises 33 companies and organizations, according to its website. The park was funded in part with city money and has created about 2,400 jobs in Albuquerque. It cost $350.5 million, although most of that came from the private sector.
Berry said the initial $2 million is a good start to the UNM-city project.
“We live in a time where we have to be smart about how we build projects. We have to do it through multiple jurisdictions, multiple avenues,” he said. “I think it will be a matter of coming together as a university, the city, the state. I just want to make sure as a mayor that we’re on the forefront of working with the university.”
And although he is counting on UNM to do “the heavy lifting,” Berry has some ideas about where this project, and the future of UNM, could be headed: Downtown.
“I’d love having a west (of UNM) incubator Downtown. I am trying to advocate as a mayor for if the university’s going to make expansions, we would work Downtown. It could be tremendous catalyst force as well,” Berry said.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/...ys-future.html