Albuquerque Development Thread

[ABQalex]

Albuquerque Business First has a story about a new limited series being produced by Netflix at its newly-expanded Albuquerque Studios complex.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquer...-buroughs.html

Streaming giant Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is shooting a new eight-part mystery series in and around Albuquerque, a few months after the company announced a big expansion at its Mesa del Sol studio campus.

Called "The Boroughs," the series stars Geena Davis, whose credits include the 1992 baseball classic "A League of Their Own," and Alfred Molina, whose acting credits include the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film "Spider-Man: No Way Home."

The Albuquerque-based production is expected to employ upwards of 2,000 New Mexicans, with most — 1,934, specifically — being background talent. The rest of the production's employees would be made up of 275 crew members and 32 principal actors, a Thursday news release from the New Mexico Film Office estimates.

Also starring Alfre Woodard, Denis O'Hare, Clarke Peters and Bill Pullman, "The Boroughs" started production last month, Jamil Walker, a communications representative for Netflix, said in an email to Albuquerque Business First.

The series is set in a "seemingly picturesque retirement community" and follows a group of "unlikely heroes" who "band together to stop an otherworldly threat," the Film Office's release explains.

Ben Taylor would direct the pilot and several other episodes and serve as executive producer of the production alongside the Duffer Brothers and Hilary Leavitt "on behalf of Upside Down Pictures," Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, the release notes. Taylor's directorial credits include 2019's "Sex Education" and 2015's "Catastrophe," per film industry website IMDb.

Walker didn't respond to questions about a time frame for hiring and an expected net production spend.

The New Mexico Film Office also didn't respond to the same questions on hiring and spend by publishing time.

"The Boroughs" annoucement comes just over three months after Netflix unveiled a 100-plus-acre studio expansion at Mesa del Sol, a master-planned community south of the Albuquerque International Sunport.

The massive media company bought its Albuquerque Studios in late 2018, promising $1 billion worth of investment in the Duke City over a 10-year period, and doubled that investment in a late 2020 expansion announcement. It's touted $575 million worth of direct investment in New Mexico since 2019.

Netflix Studios is one of the state's three film partners, alongside NBC Universal and 828 Productions.

Here are a few more pics, including a couple of aerial pics of the studio complex that were recently added to the DR Horton Mesa del Sol page. Netflix is currently building out the back lot facilities and another mill structure on the site.

https://www.drhorton.com/new-mexico/...e/mesa-del-sol







Here are a few new pics of the Encanto Mesa del Sol project from its listing on the Apartments.com website. The first pic is a great aerial shot which shows the Netflix Albuquerque Studios complex in the background as well.

https://www.apartments.com/encanto-a...ue-nm/0qwr8g2/

















As a bonus, here's a pic of the My Market grocery store on the ground floor of the Aperture Center at Mesa del Sol that's included in the gallery linked to above for the Encanto Mesa del Sol apartments.



Here are some pics of the interior of the grocery store that I posted over at SSC last year shortly after it opened but never got around to posting here. The last pic includes the owner and operator of the store, Kiki Salcido.

https://www.facebook.com/MyMarketMDS/

https://x.com/SenPadilla/status/1646242585814630402/

[ABQalex]

The 52nd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has lifted off today with a mass ascension. It's Albuquerque’s largest and signature event. It will run every day through next weekend.

https://balloonfiesta.com/



Below is a link to watch the event live right now on the Balloon Fiesta's YouTube account. Every day will be livestreamed by them for anyone wishing to see the event who cannot be here. The local news stations also livestream most of the events on YouTube or their websites.

• Video Link

Events are everywhere throughout the city to coincide with the main event and to offer people things to do apart and away from the Balloon Fiesta.

https://www.visitalbuquerque.org/abq...alloon-fiesta/



Old Town is always a big draw and so is the Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival. A new art event will also kick off next weekend in Downtown Albuquerque and the St. George Greek Orthodox Church's Grecian Festival is happening this weekend in East Downtown. It's in its 49th year and celebrates Albuquerque’s significant Greek community, who've been prominent throughout the city’s history ever since New Town was established in the late 1800s.

https://www.abqgreekfest.com/













The Balloon Fiesta always unofficially gets underway with the Albuquerque Aloft event the Friday morning before. This year, over 200 pilots and balloons inflated and had a static display for children at elementary schools across the city and area. Some even lifted off for the event.

• Video Link

Two new special shapes will be introduced at this year's Balloon Fiesta. A Zozobra-shaped balloon by Visit Santa Fe, and a balloon in the shape of a concrete mixer truck by Duke City Redi-Mix.

https://burnzozobra.com/balloon/



https://www.dukecityredimix.com/balloon



I especially love the Duke City Redi-Mix balloon as it reminds me of when I was little and was endlessly fascinated by these trucks. I loved whenever I'd spy one going by on the freeway and its drum would be spinning.

The Balloon Fiesta really does belong to children and the child in all of us!

Lastly, here's a nice pic that was posted on Instagram this past week of the skyline with several balloons above it. I hope to come across more such pics as the event goes on in the days ahead.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAgMqpou4hX/

[ABQalex]

The city yesterday also received a $250,000 donation to go towards the construction of a new playground/outdoor exhibit at the Balloon Museum. The balloon-themed playground and landscaping project will be located on the northwest corner of the museum's structure and grounds at Balloon Fiesta Park. It will be called the "Flight of Imagination Playscape" The museum hopes to break ground on the project next year to mark its 20th anniversary.

The donation comes from the family and trust of an inductee of the museum's International Ballooning Hall of Fame, Jim Winker.

https://www.facebook.com/Albuquerque...6Nd5Vf6y3rN9tl

[ABQalex]

The Sunport posted a pic this afternoon of the new Black Mesa Coffee location off of the Great Hall in the pre-security area. It's the first of the new concession spaces to open at the Sunport.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAwff1FPxA7/



Here's a pic of the Sunport that a passenger on one of the temporary Spirit Airlines flights to and from Los Angeles posted this past week on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAokR0CRMga/



And here's a neat aerial pic that a passenger arriving on a flight to the Sunport and Albuquerque also posted on Instagram yesterday. It shows the cluster of hotels and area west of the Sunport with UNM/CNM, Uptown Albuquerque and the Sandia mountains visible in the background and beyond.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAtICy0xF4H/



Edit: Here's another neat aerial pic of the area around the Sunport that was taken last month during a balloon ride and posted on World Balloon's Facebook account.

https://www.facebook.com/worldballoonabq

[ABQalex]

Last night was the monthly Art Walk in Downtown Albuquerque, which also coincided with the opening weekend and benefited from all the visitors in the city for Balloon Fiesta. Below are a couple of pics of last night's event from OT Circus and 505 Central on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAuiCk_OAIH/





https://www.instagram.com/p/DAuSAk5Paj2/



Here are a couple of screenshots and a link to a video from Mark Baker on Instagram that shows a preview of the new interactive art museum/gallery that will be coming to the former Sumner & Dene Gallery space on Central Avenue between 5th and 6th streets. It was housed in a truck that was parked in front of its future home on Central Avenue. They also had an open house in the structure itself to show their work so far to transform the space.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAueI9iua4R/





The name on the truck is United Time Travel and Plumbing Services, whose motto is "No Temporal Paradoxes or Your Money Back" This is apparently the name of their creative team/art collective.

https://www.instagram.com/_time_drop_/

Here also is a link to Cafe Entropy's Instagram page, which is the overall name of the new operation. The pic is of one of their interactive exhibits that they are working on, a robot DJ. They have a video of it in action on their Instagram account as well.

https://www.instagram.com/cafe.entropy/



The new art event in Downtown Albuquerque that will begin next weekend is the Rising High Arts Festival, which will take place on 1st Street in and around the Fusion Theater. It's being organized by the man who founded Fusion. Below is a post that they made recently on their new Instagram account announcing the events lineup.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAWcwzWvIJ4/



Here are some pics taken this past week showing the Arrive Hotel project.









The pics of the Arrive Hotel project above come from a recent story in the Albuquerque Journal about the BID and TIF efforts, as well as the vacant properties and public nuisance legislation for Downtown that will be going before the city council again next week after it was tweaked.

In the story they have an interesting quote from David Silverman of Geltmore who was behind the Imperial Building and a partner in the recent Ex Novo project. He says that they are working on a conversion project for a "pretty large" office building Downtown.

https://www.abqjournal.com/business/...7587b6e0c.html

David Silverman, a qualified broker with commercial real estate firm Geltmore, has a particular interest in Downtown.

His family’s firm is the largest proportionate owner in the partnership that helped bring Ex Novo Brewing Co. to the area. Geltmore also owns the 3,000-square-foot space that houses the company’s offices. The firm, Silverman said, is also under contract for a “pretty large office building” in Downtown that will be transformed into residential, office and retail space.

I wonder if it's First Plaza that they are planning to purchase and convert. The Garcia family currently owns and had plans to transform it as well by adding hotel and residential uses and retaining some office space and the underground commercial spaces/Galeria.



The deadline for submissions to the city's second housing conversion RFP recently passed. I wonder whether Geltmore's project was submitted for consideration. Some of the questions that the city received and answered for the RFP pertained to site control and ownership of the structure that's proposed to be converted. Since Geltmore says that they are "under contract" for the office building I also wonder whether it is them who asked the questions.

https://www.cabq.gov/mra/documents/i...response-1.pdf

https://www.cabq.gov/mra/documents/i...response-4.pdf

Below is a nice pic of the skyline of Downtown Albuquerque that is the featured pic of the Journal's story above. It was taken this past week from the Hotel Parq Central's rooftop bar/outdoor lounge.

[ABQalex]

The Albuquerque Development Commission had a special meeting this past week. One of the items on their agenda was declaring the two properties at Lomas and Broadway south of the Main Post Office as blighted and including them within the new boundaries of the Downtown Metropolitan Redevelopment Area.

The boundaries were recently changed to consolidate and include the former Railroad and McClellan Park MRAs in the main Downtown MRA, which is something I've long hoped would happen. This is all in preparation for the updated Downtown Redevelopment Plan that is being crafted and will soon be revealed.

https://www.cabq.gov/mra/documents/c...ion-report.pdf







Of course, the Martineztown NIMBYs have a problem with this and a vote has been postponed until after further consultation and meetings with the Martineztown NA can occur.

https://www.cabq.gov/mra/documents/a...2-24-draft.pdf

The city is rather stupidly and nonsensically trying to appease them by promising certain uses like residential won't be allowed on the site going forward.

These NIMBYs have always been vehemently opposed to development of any kind taking place on this land, most recently the idea of a soccer stadium. They'd rather the existing Burger King and empty lot/former drainage pond remain as they are, a true blight and underutilized area of Downtown Albuquerque.

What better uses than residential and/or mixed use with residential would there be for these properties?? It's clear a stadium or arena will never go here now or in the future thanks to the NIMBYs and short-sidedness/weakness of our leaders. To now hamstring and complicate any other kind of good development going forward here is incredibly dumb, IMO.



Here's a neat aerial pic of Downtown Albuquerque and its environs that was taken during a hot air balloon ride last month and posted on World Balloon's Facebook account.

https://www.facebook.com/worldballoonabq

[ABQalex]

The Albuquerque Journal has a story about the upcoming bond election for Bernalillo County. It details the projects that will benefit from the $40.5 million in bonds if they are passed. That includes $1 million to begin planning for the expansion of the Bernalillo County Courthouse in Downtown Albuquerque. The expansion is expected to be a $72 million overall project.

https://www.abqjournal.com/news/what...63a1a2300.html

Should local libraries get more money to buy books? Should money be spent on renovations at the Raymond G. Sanchez Community Center or to complete the next phase of the Mesa del Sol regional recreation complex? Voters will decide in this year’s general election.

There will be six Bernalillo County bond questions on the Nov. 5 ballot, allowing voters to weigh in on a $40.5 million bond package.

The bond questions include $2.5 million for library materials; $8.8 million for public safety facilities and other county buildings; $11.7 million for parks and recreation facilities; almost $10.7 million for transportation facilities; $5.1 million for storm drainage and utilities infrastructure; and $1.7 million for public housing.

General obligation bonds are a reliable source of revenue for the county’s capital projects and allow the county to tackle more projects, said Kathy Korte, chief of government affairs for Bernalillo County.

“When voters approve these bonds, we don’t increase taxes,” Korte said.

All of the projects in the bond package are within the county’s six-year capital improvement plan. Many of the projects within the bond package will be fully funded if the bonds are approved or are close to fully funded, Korte said.

Once the county gets authorization from voters to issue bonds, the entire package of $40.5 million in bonds is not sold at once, Korte said, but instead the county sells bonds one or two times per year. The bonds have to be sold within four years of voter approval and the bond money has to be spent within three years of the bond sale.

...

Public safety dollars

The second county bond question will ask voters to approve $8.8 million in bonds for public safety facilities, fleet and county buildings.

That $8.8 million would go to 12 different projects, including $2 million for an early learning pre-K facility. Bernalillo County has already secured $8.2 million for the $14.1 million project, which would demolish an existing PB&J Family Services building in the South Valley, then plan, design and build a new facility.

The bond package includes $1.4 million for a fire and rescue aerial tower, a type of very tall ladder truck that can respond to high-rise fires or emergencies. The $2.4 million purchase already has $1 million in committed funding, so the bond dollars would fully fund the aerial tower. Fire stations 32 and 38 would also get $600,000 for renovations.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office would get $800,000 for a shooting range. BCSO would also get $200,000 for office renovations, which will cost an estimated $2 million.

The county’s 2nd Judicial District courthouse would get $1 million for an expansion project. The overall project will cost an estimated $72 million. None of the funding has been secured yet, but Bernalillo County will request $2.5 million from state lawmakers in 2025 to go toward that project as well, Korte said.

...

The existing courthouse was renovated and added an additional courtroom (within existing space) back in 2021, but there are still less courtrooms than there are judges.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/renovatio...030400884.html



The expansion of the county courthouse is planned to be built on the site of the former county jail that was demolished three years ago. It's directly south of the existing courthouse structure and was turned into a temporary parking lot for county vehicles after the jail structures were demolished.

Below are a couple of pics of the existing structure and the parking lot site that were posted by a surveying company on LinkedIn last year. I'm not sure whether the surveying work was in preparation for this expansion or not.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cstil...039395328-pPEy





Hopefully this project will advance quickly and get all of the funding that it needs. I also hope it will be a nice structure with at least some height, hopefully more than five stories!

[ABQalex]

Albuquerque Business First has a story about a new studio complex that's being planned by the owner of the Revel Entertainment Center. Rio Bravo Studios will be built adjacent to the Rail Runner's Bernalillo County/International Sunport Station near 2nd Street and Rio Bravo Boulevard. It will have four soundstages, two mills, backlot and office space for production activities. It's planned to be completed next year.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquer...-facility.html

Rio Bravo Studios announced plans Oct. 4 for a new commercial soundstage facility in the South Valley.

The facility near the intersection of Rio Bravo Boulevard and Second Street will feature four 20,000-square-foot sound stages, with the intention to open in 2025. Rio Bravo Studios declined to disclose the price of the project.

Rio Bravo Studios purchased the land from Schwartzman Inc. in September. CBRE’s Trevor Hatchell and Matt Butkus represented the seller, and Scott Whitefield and Shona Martinez of CBRE represented the buyer.

The architect will be Scott Anderson & Associates Architects, and Rio Bravo Studios CEO Daniel Chavez hopes to hire a local contractor for the project, according to Martinez.

Chavez is the founder and CEO of Uptown Funk, Albuquerque's first piano bar, and Revel, a local concert venue.

The facility is being built on an 18.46-acre piece of land near the Bernalillo County NMRX Station. It will have two mill shops, offices for completing post-production work and 450 parking spaces, leaving 10 acres for backlot filming.

Chavez took on the speculative building project to meet demand for commercial soundstage facilities in the state, Martinez said.

The New Mexico Film Office told Martinez and Whitefield that it’s having to turn prospective productions away because the state doesn’t have enough commercial soundstage facilities to accommodate them all, Whitefield said.

“I was originally looking to refurbish warehouse space,” Chavez said. “But, after looking at what was out there, it became clear that the film industry needs true soundstages, not repurposed buildings.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal...unport_station





Here's another story by Connect CRE which has a rendering/site visioning for the new studio complex.

https://www.connectcre.com/stories/m...n-albuquerque/

Rio Bravo Studios will build a commercial soundstage facility with four 20,000 square feet sound stages, which are planned to be operational by 2025. The site will include office areas for each sound stage, two complete mill shops and ample parking for 450 cars, leaving over 10 acres available for backlot use.

The facility will be built on an 18.46-acre parcel near the intersection of Rio Bravo and 2nd Street, adjacent to the Bernalillo County NMRX Station just south of town.

The finished facility will be close to I-25 and Albuquerque International Sunport.

Rio Bravo’s Daniel Chavez added. “The New Mexico film community has created an amazing infrastructure for film production. We have the opportunity to be the best in the world, and this development moves us one more step in that direction.”

Trevor Hatchell and Matt Butkus of CBRE represented Schwartzman, Inc., the seller, in the sale, while Scott Whitefield and Shona Martinez represented the buyer.

[ABQalex]

The Albuquerque City Council voted down the vacant buildings and public nuisance legislation yesterday by an overwhelming 8-1 vote. Only Councilor Joaquin Baca, who represents Downtown and introduced the bill, voted for it.

It was doomed to failure as it attracted opposition from both sides. Business groups and conservatives who didn't like the city being able to hold deadbeat property owners accountable and civil liberties groups and liberals who didn't like that people sleeping or otherwise obstructing the sidewalks would be penalized for doing so as well.

Some councilors said that they would be willing to entertain and vote for only certain elements of the bill, but not the entire thing. But that breaks down along ideological lines as well, so I doubt we get anywhere.

https://www.kob.com/news/top-news/ci...-homelessness/

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A hotly-debated proposal focused on issues in downtown Albuquerque is officially dead.

On Monday night, Albuquerque City Council voted against a package aimed at tackling vacant buildings and people sleeping or loitering on sidewalks, among other things.

City Councilor Joaquin Baca created the proposal and even made some changes based on other councilors’ concerns. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough.

Some councilors liked parts of the bill but found other parts too problematic to pass it. The proposal failed in an 8-1 vote, with only Baca voting in favor of it.

Baca’s ordinance had four parts:

• Vacant buildings
• Dilapidated properties
• People obstructing downtown sidewalks
• Parking issues

It would have essentially penalized owners of downtown buildings that are empty and in bad shape to cut down on the amount of vacant properties.

The proposal would have also allowed police to arrest or fine people sitting, kneeling or sleeping on downtown sidewalks. That aspect had the most pushback.

Finally, the proposal would have also updated the parking code.

Ultimately, most city councilors said it was too much in one package.

“If this bill were four bills, which in my mind it should have been, I would have voted for two of them without any amendments,” City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn said.

“There are a lot of things that I think that that could make some that can really move the needle and do some good things, and so certainly willing to work with a sponsor and others to do that. But I am opposed to this bill,” City Council President Dan Lewis said.

Some downtown business owners that KOB 4 talked to Monday agreed, saying all of these complex topics shouldn’t be all thrown in together.

“I think that it would be smarter to separate that proposal, because you’re going to get a lot of pushback,” said Dawn Vatoseow, a co-owner of Lindy’s Diner in downtown Albuquerque.

Vatoseow argues the market is tough for everyone. She adds that, if city councilors want to get rid of vacant buildings, they should provide incentives – not penalties.

“It’s not the building owner’s fault that there is so much vandalism, and you know, other issues going on,” Vatoseow said. “I don’t think a lot of these people are sitting on these buildings because they want to. I think they’re sitting on the buildings because they have to.”

While Vatoseow supports Baca’s proposal to arrest or fine people sleeping on or obstructing sidewalks, she also argues it’s not going to entirely solve the issue.

“There’s so much more to it than them just camping out on the street. It’s the destruction and what is spent to clean up the mess that is left,” Vatoseow said. “The problem that we have downtown is not a homeless issue. It is an issue of drug addiction.”

Amy Martinez, with Thicc Pizza Co., agrees. Martinez says a fix for people who are homeless won’t come with one proposal.

“We shouldn’t have to watch where we’re going, watch what we’re driving, watch where we’re stepping or because they’re using our alleyways for a bathroom, we go out there and throw our trash,” she said.

Martinez says she doesn’t mind that the ordinance tackles many problems. She believes it was a long time coming.

“They should have started a long time ago, when the problem started. Now, we have everything all at once, and what jumbled up into one,” she said.

City Councilor Louie Sanchez argued some of our current laws would address the issue of people sleeping and loitering on sidewalks. He just says they’re not being enforced.

Meanwhile, Fiebelkorn says this proposal doesn’t do anything to help people who are homeless.

Baca hasn’t said if he’d reintroduce some parts of his ideas as individual bills.

[ABQalex]

Here's an amazing video that was posted yesterday on YouTube. It's drone footage of the balloons above Downtown Albuquerque that came down this way from Balloon Fiesta Park. I absolutely love whenever the wind carries them south and this happens. It's truly a sight to behold!

• Video Link

Here are a few screenshots of my favorite vantage points in the video.

[ABQalex]

Another neat video with aerial footage was posted by UNM Hospital on its Instagram account last week. This one is of the new UNM Hospital tower and was taken from a helicopter landing at the existing hospital structure's helipad. Below are a few screenshots and link to the video.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAt-AvZO84j/















Here also is a snap taken from the construction cam today.



Here's another screenshot from the video above showing the hospital's new tower and the new Lobo Welcome Center across Lomas Boulevard, which recently had its ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening.



Here's a pic of the ribbon-cutting ceremony that took place last week and was posted on UNM’s website.

https://news.unm.edu/news/the-univer...fficially-open



And here are a few more pics of the new welcome center from a page on UNM's website highlighting the project.

https://fdc.unm.edu/projects/lobo-we...er1/index.html

















UNM also posted on its website last week that the freshman class of 3,642 students for the fall semester is the largest in the school's history, continuing a rise in enrollment over the past few years. The campus in Albuquerque has a total of 23,228 total students, a rise of 2.6 percent over last year.

https://news.unm.edu/news/unm-enroll...2024-data-show

According to data released this semester, enrollment at The University of New Mexico is once again on the rise.

For fall 2024, there were 3,642 new first-year student registrations at the Albuquerque campus, which surpasses last year’s record-setting 3,611 — and the largest incoming class since the University opened its doors in 1889.

Total enrollment at the Albuquerque campus also grew to 23,228 for fall 2024, an increase of 2.6% (598 students) over last year. Total enrollment across all UNM campuses also increased by 1% to 27,075 students.

[ABQalex]

Here are some pics of the progress on the Monte Vista Elementary School addition that Franken Construction Company posted yesterday on its Facebook account. I especially love the last pic with Nob Hill and Central Avenue in the background. It's getting to be a well-defined strip and stretch of urbanity and density! (click the link directly below the embedded image to see it full size)

https://www.facebook.com/FrankenCons...rKbvYxN6nVnuhl














https://images2.imgbox.com/b7/66/1gOATAev_o.jpg

Rembe Design also posted this progress pic of their El Parador apartments project today on their Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DA6xRpwPVJU/



Here's another property listing and possible project on Central Avenue that I found out about the same day as the project on 1st Street downtown. It's also listed on the New Mexico Apartment Advisors website. It's a listing for a 5-story, 52-unit project called "Highland Flats" on an empty lot at Central Avenue and Madison Street NE.

http://www.nmapartment.com/apt/NMAA-Central4611NE.pdf













Again, who knows if this will ever come to fruition as presented and planned, but it would be another great project along Central Avenue and the ART line!

[ABQalex]

KOB-TV had a story yesterday about the county commission passing a request to the state for $100 million in funding for affordable housing in the next legislative session that's coming up in early 2025. It's part of the housing projects that the city and county have identified and are working on as part of their joint affordable housing committee.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/berna...housing-funds/

BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. — Bernalillo County commissioners made a big move to boost affordable housing in New Mexico this week, calling for $100 million in funding.

Reports show Bernalillo County will need around 28,000 additional housing units to meet the growing demand by 2035. County commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday to ask the New Mexico Legislature for $100 million in the upcoming session – all to go to affordable housing.

“We are asking for $100 million because the crisis is upon us. We need to be bold because we have a problem on our streets, we have a problem with affordable, available housing,” one commissioner noted.

The money would go toward collaborative projects among the city, the county and the Middle Rio Grande Housing Collaborative.

Tuesday’s resolution passed the commission in a 4-1 vote.

Here's a screenshot of the listing of projects that the city and county have identified for funding help. The $100 million won't cover all of the funding necessary to make these projects come to fruition but it will surely help and I'm sure they will look to federal funding sources and mechanisms to close the funding gap.



Here's another screenshot which shows the land and opportunities for projects to be developed which the city and county own.



Most of these projects were previously known but there are quite a few interesting discoveries for me in the listing.

The biggest one is the plan for 100 units in the Wells Fargo building Downtown. At least, I assume it's that building. It's been listed for sale for about a year and I now wonder whether this may also be the conversion project that Geltmore is considering taking on. They said that their project would be mixed-use.

In the listing below for the Wells Fargo building it's stated that the bank would like to keep its office space and main branch in the structure. There is also restaurant/commercial space on the ground floor that used to be home to Slow Roasted Bocadillos. The parking lots that are included with the building are also prime opportunities for redevelopment.

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/200-...e-NM/26463430/



Also Downtown, I'm glad to see the Union Square project listed, as well as the senior housing at 6th Street and Coal Avenue. I posted over at SSC awhile back that the project has changed from a focus on homeless veterans to seniors and that the unit count has increased from about 40 to 65 units, which will hopefully add another floor or two on the fairly compact site. The change was revealed in a story earlier this year about another, much smaller county funding request for affordable housing. Note that the land and project is listed twice above, but the senior housing is the most recent project for this property.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/berna...dable-housing/



I'm also glad to see the Romero project in Barelas and the Uptown Connect TOD project in Uptown Albuquerque listed as well!

The county commission yesterday also approved $55 million in bonds to help along another of the projects listed above, the Tierra Linda Apartments. Below are a couple of screenshots describing the project and showing its layout and location adjacent to the Ceja Vista and Valle de Atrisco apartment complexes that have recently been built. It looks like Tierra Linda will be very similar to the Valle de Atrisco project especially, with both having 240 units. The developer is also the same on all three projects, DBG Properties.

[ABQalex]

One of the projects identified in the listing above is another interesting discovery for me, the 300 units at 2nd Street and Rio Bravo. I assume this is part of YES Housing's Aldea del Rio project. If it is, it's not exactly a discovery, but the number of units is interesting to find out. Below is a new site plan/visioning for Aldea del Rio that YES Housing's founder posted on LinkedIn earlier this week.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update...2975740370945/



The county is currently reconstructing and expanding portions of Rio Bravo Boulevard and 2nd Street in this area in a project that got underway back in June.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerqu...second-street/

https://www.bernco.gov/blog/2024/05/...second-street/









This project is in preparation for the replacement of the Rio Bravo bridge across the river. It will be built in phases, with half of the new bridge (the westbound portion) built directly north of the existing bridge and then the other half (the eastbound portion) built directly south of the new bridge half after the entire existing bridge is demolished.

[ABQalex]

City Desk has a story confirming that it's the Wells Fargo building Downtown that is being looked at for a conversion project with 100 affordable apartments. They talk to representatives who say that it would be more economical and quicker to do the conversion to try bring affordable units to fruition.

The article doesn't make clear if it's the county/government entities that are behind the project or if it's a private or non-profit developer like Geltmore/YES Housing, etc.

https://citydesk.org/2024/downtowns-...t-conversions/

The Middle Rio Grande Housing Collaborative (MRGHC) recently released a list of projects it thinks are primed and ready to help increase the availability of affordable housing in the Albuquerque metro area. One of the more intriguing prospects on the list is an office-to-apartment conversion at the Wells Fargo Bank building Downtown.

The 17-story office tower at 200 Lomas Blvd. NW was built in 1973 and has about 145,500-square-feet of available office space along with hundreds of parking spaces. The Albuquerque office of Colliers International has the property listed as an “excellent redevelopment opportunity.”

An MRGHC analysis found that $15 million in gap funding would be needed to get the project rolling. Gap funding is used as an incentive to get an investor or developer to close a deal.

“We’re figuring out what projects might be the most practical and quickest to focus on,” MRGHC Chair Talia Freedman said. “I think that conversions will definitely be a priority.”

The city-county collaborative was launched last year as a way to speed up housing projects by pooling city and county funds and leveraging property and resources.

The group — five commissioners appointed by city and county officials — estimates a total need of $262 million in gap funding to ramp up all the projects it identified, which would create about 2,100 new housing units in all. The projects not only include conversion and redevelopment, but new construction and the acquisition of vacant land.

Albuquerque City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn said the collaboration is “unprecedented.”

“What sets it apart is its innovative approach,” she said. “Instead of spending years raising funds for specific projects — which can lead to delays and feasibility issues — the new joint powers agreement enables MRGHC commissioners to quickly and flexibly provide gap financing for emerging projects.”

The commission consists of Freedman, Steve Anaya, Dan Majewski, Ian Robertson and Lawrence Rael, former City of Albuquerque chief administrative officer. It has steadily ramped up efforts this year, including a request for significant funds from the state.

The collaborative adopted a resolution in late September asking for $100 million in next year’s 60-day Legislative Session, which included an appeal to support Housing New Mexico’s request of $500 million, with a local government set aside of 10% to 20%. If approved, the set aside could generate an additional $50 million to $100 million for housing projects.

The resolution was approved by the Bernalillo County Commission on Wednesday and is expected to be considered by the City Council on Oct. 21.

Meanwhile, Freedman said the collaborative is on the hunt for a planning and operations director. Those interested in the position can find details here.

A couple of corrections for the article, the Wells Fargo building is actually 13 stories tall and the county commission approved the funding resolution/request on Tuesday, not Wednesday.

Here's another nice view of the building that was posted last month on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAE4Samy6Ep/



And here's a newspaper clipping of the Albuquerque Journal when the building first opened back in September 1973 as the home of the American Bank of Commerce. A succession of bank acquisitions led to it being the local headquarters of Wells Fargo since 1998 when they merged with Norwest Banks.



The building was always lit up with white floodlights until 1995 when Norwest Banks began the current green lighting scheme at night. Wells Fargo looked at and tried lighting the building in either solid red or solid yellow to match its colors shortly after they acquired it, but in the end they stuck with green as the color of money.







The pic above comes from a post last month on Instagram with several great aerial shots of Downtown Albuquerque at night. I'll go ahead and post all of them below. There's also a short video included in the post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-eENCAPcuS/

















A couple more nice Downtown/skyline pics from another post by the same account on Instagram as the above pics. Check their account out, they have other nice drone pics of Tingley Beach, the river and bosque, and the North Valley!

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9dO4MOvpMb/

[ABQalex]

Another change in this part of Downtown that's brewing (pardon the pun) is the possible sale or closure of Marble Brewery. Rumors have been flying on social media over the past week that the operation is in financial trouble and looking for a buyer. If they don't find one, the rumor is the operation will close by December.

This rumor and scenario was finally pretty much confirmed by them early this week in the Albuquerque Journal. They say that there's an interested buyer, which some people were also saying when the rumors were swirling.

https://www.abqjournal.com/business/...1bd2364e4.html

Marble Brewery may have new owners soon.

The brewery, which has been in operation for 16 years and has several taprooms throughout Albuquerque, has an interested buyer.

“We have no information to share regarding the sale,” said Tammy Lovato, vice president of sales distribution, sales and marketing at Marble Brewery. “I personally do not know who the company is but heard they are local, they are very beer focused.”

Lovato said Marble’s ownership is handling the details and has not shared who the potential buyer might be.

“There is a company that is interested in purchasing Marble, that has a letter of intent in,” Lovato added.

There have been rumors circulating the internet on sites such as Reddit saying the brewery is filing for bankruptcy and closing all of its locations, which Lovato said is completely untrue.

“Marble has not filed for bankruptcy and that is public information,” Lovato said. “It is public record that is easily verifiable.”

One thing the rumor mill has done is drum up more business for the brewery.

“Marble Brewery is open for business and we are very thankful for the people that have shown up and continue to show us support,” Lovato said. ”And I have been just sending everybody to marblebrewery.com to check out all of our awesome taproom events that are coming up and all of the great food trucks that we’re booking at our locations.”

Lovato said there has been an outpouring of love from the community and many patrons have reached out to check on the staff.

“Marble is really special for the people of Albuquerque,” she said. “I understand why people are flooding the internet with questions because everybody is curious as to what is happening with Marble because it has been around so long. I hope people can just stand with us as we make our transition into the next thing and we will be as honest and transparent with people as we can. I’m very optimistic about it.”

Lovato said there are no plans to suspend operations anytime soon and that goes for distribution throughout the state and surrounding areas.

“We are currently distributed in New Mexico, Colorado, West Texas and Nevada,” Lovato said. “There are no plans to cease distribution into those territories. We have plenty of liquid. Our tanks are full. We are ready to sell beer.”

The brewery will be meeting with its distribution partners to make sure there is a plan for the next couple of months.

“We are full steam ahead over here to make sure people that are looking to purchase Marble products can do so at their favorite bar and restaurant, at their favorite liquor store, grocery store and especially at our taprooms,” Lovato said.

An all staff meeting was held late last week to address staff members and the sales team.

“Everybody is aware of what is happening within the company and leadership has given people tools to make decisions that fit their lifestyle and what they need to do that’s best for them,” Lovato said. “We just want everybody to be in the know and make the best decisions possible for themselves and their family.”

More information will be provided as things get finalized.

“There’s a lot of decisions that are being made, but as soon as we know (more), we will come out with another statement and make sure that it is a little bit more solidified so people know what the next journey is for Marble Brewery,” Lovato said. “I know a lot of people depend on us as a staple for music, food trucks, amazing craft beer and just being the local watering hole. We’ve been here for 16 years so we definitely want to be as transparent with our community as we can be. There’s just some things we don’t know and we can’t talk about right now, but we will.”

A few more pics of the Downtown location that have been posted by people to Google.









People have been shocked because of how popular and well-established Marble is in the local beer scene and with significant distribution in nearby states. It's the largest brewery operation in Albuquerque and one of the longest-running, in operation for 16 years. It has three locations across the city, and the Downtown location on its namesake Marble Avenue is always busy and seen as one of the greatest brewery locations anywhere.

Because of that people are speculating on who might want to take over the space and set up shop there if Marble doesn't find a buyer and ceases operations. Some people have been saying that perhaps Gravity Bound Brewing might want to take it over. It's currently located very nearby in this same area on the northern edge of Downtown Albuquerque.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce4Hgt7POZ1/

[ABQalex]

Here are some pics and a link to another great video of the balloons above Downtown Albuquerque this morning just after sunrise. They were posted by KRQE meteorologist Ryan DePhillips on his social media accounts.

https://x.com/ryandephipswx/status/1...943365/video/2

[ABQalex]

The city's gonna have a community meeting/workshop about affordable housing next week at the South Broadway Cultural Center. As part of the meeting they will discuss a new project along the future Rail Trail in the Sawmill Area. It looks like this will be the project that the Sawmill Community Land Trust has been working on over the last year, as they are co-hosting the event. Hopefully they'll reveal renderings, number of units, etc!

https://homesforabq.com/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DA_yMYkt-f-/

The City of Albuquerque, in partnership with the Sawmill Community Land Trust, invites you to a special community workshop on affordable housing! ������️

At this event, you’ll learn:

������ How to access affordable housing opportunities
������ Best practices for affordable housing
������ Exciting updates on a new housing development along the planned Albuquerque Rail Trail in the Sawmill District!

������ Date: October 15, 2024
������ Time: 5:30 - 7:30 PM
������ Location: South Broadway Cultural Center

Please join us!

Here are some more renderings of the Rail Trail in the Sawmill Area that Pland Collaborative posted on their LinkedIn account shortly after the groundbreaking for the project.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update...4866711166976/

[ABQalex]

Sol Housing has released renderings and created a website for its Bataan & Churchill project. Below are the renderings, site plan and a photo of the site as it exists today. I love the look of the design, it's getting close to those Pueblo Deco AI images we've seen previously in the thread!

https://www.aptsatbataan.com/home

















The website also has this pic of the nearby Coors ART station. This will be considered as a TOD project as it's in very close walking distance to the station, about a block to the south.