Albuquerque Development Thread

[ABQalex]

The NBCUniversal studio complex just north of Downtown Albuquerque had its grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony today. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in March last year but was sidelined by the pandemic.

https://www.krqe.com/news/business/ribbo...cuniversal-new-mexico-production-studio/

• Video Link

The main facility includes two 18,000 sq ft soundstages, 19,000 sq ft of office and support space, 13,000 sq ft of mill and flex space and 9,000 sq ft of storage space.

https://universalproductionservices.com/abq



Another, smaller shop facility is located nearby.



As part of the ceremony today, it was revealed that filming and production for the television version of MacGruber would take place at the studio complex this summer. The movie version of MacGruber was also filmed in Albuquerque over a decade ago. The new television series will air on Peacock and will reunite all of the original cast from the movie.

Below is a quote with more about the new series from KOB-TV's coverage of the studio grand opening, which includes three video reports, including one about MacGruber.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/rib...-new-mexico-production-facility/6151159/

This summer, "MacGruber," based off of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, will begin filming at the facility through August. The comedy series stars Will Forte, Mickey Rourke, Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe.

"MacGruber" will hire about 225 local crew members and 61 local actors and stunt players. About 850 New Mexicans will also have the opportunity to become background actors.

KRQE today also has a story about another production in Albuquerque that recently finished filming. The Netflix movie "The Harder They Fall" starring Regina King and Idris Elba and produced by Jay-Z will debut on Netflix this fall.

https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/netflix-releases-trailer-for-western-film-shot-in-new-mexico/



Queen Latifah, Ludacris and Beau Bridges are also filming a movie in Albuquerque for Netflix. The movie is called "End of the Road" and will film in the city through August. Below is a quote from the Albuquerque Journal's story last week about the production.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2400370/queen...m-made-netflix-film-end-of-the-road.html

“End of The Road” is the story of a recently widowed woman, Brenda, who after losing her job, drives her family cross-country to start a new life.

In the New Mexico desert, cut off from help, they must learn to fight back when they become the targets of a mysterious killer.

The film is directed by Millicent Shelton and is written by David Loughery.

It is based on an original screenplay by Christopher J. Moore.

“We are all excited to have the opportunity to shoot in New Mexico with some of the best crews and creative talent in the world. The state’s unique landscapes and gorgeous weather have captured our hearts,” said producers Tracey Edmonds, Mark Burg and Brad Kaplan.

According to the New Mexico Film Office, the production will employ approximately 156 New Mexico crew members, 5 New Mexico principal actors, and 283 New Mexico background talent.

Earlier this week the Albuquerque City Council also formally approved the land lease deals for the Netflix studio expansion.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/net...-for-albuquerque-expansion-plan/6148408/



Also reported today is that the New Mexico film industry had a record year for FY 2021, with $623 million in direct spending so far this fiscal year and one week left to go.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2403189/nm-film-industry-breaks-record-with-623m-in-direct-spend.html

New Mexico remains a hot spot for film and TV.

The state announced this week that the New Mexico film industry has brought in $623 million in what is known as a “direct spend” with one week left to go in the fiscal year.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, the film industry broke the old record of $525.5 million set in fiscal year 2019. In fiscal year 2020, the film industry had a direct spend of $386.8 million.

[ABQalex]

Albuquerque Business First has a story detailing what may be one of Max Q's first tenants, a government contractor named BlueHalo.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...ng-expansion-into-max-q-development.html

Virginia-based defense firm BlueHalo is working out the details of a possible move into the Max Q business park, a company spokesperson confirmed to Business First.

As of June 16, the BlueHalo spokesperson said the lease had not been finalized. Sen. Martin Heinrich, however, told Business First in an interview earlier this month that the company plans to do research and development work alongside manufacturing at Max Q.

"They decided they want to be in that Max Q development because of where it is," Heinrich said. "That's the kind of company that I really see being attracted to these sites next to the airport and Kirtland Air Force Base."

The mixed-use development is set to come in phases. The first phase will include six office buildings comprised of a total of 240,000 square feet, with smaller restaurant and retail spaces situated along Gibson Boulevard SE. As of November 2020, Thunderbird was in active negotiations with three “build-to-suit” tenants, Yearout said, adding that one was a government agency.

BlueHalo's possible expansion to the site may set the stage for additional development — if it sees its way through. The Arlington, Virginia, based company, dose however, have local roots. In October 2020, Albuquerque engineering firm Applied Technology Associates announced its plans to merge with BlueHalo.

Albuquerque Business First also has a story talking about the developments happening around the airport and the economic pull that may be building there and in the overall Southeast area of the city with projects like the Orion Center, Max Q and all that's going at Mesa del Sol just south of the airport. The story includes a nice rendering of the Orion Center.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2021/06/24/the-sunport-s-gravitational-pull.html

As officials finalized Netflix’s second billion-dollar expansion at Mesa del Sol last November, city councilor Pat Davis picked up on a trend.

“If you’re looking for New Mexico’s future, I think you look at the areas around the airport and Mesa because that is where New Mexico is going,” Davis said.

The seeds were planted about a decade ago, Davis said, when the master plan for Mesa del Sol was developed. Davis’ 6th District includes Mesa del Sol. He said local developers and officials like now-U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich grew up near those neighborhoods. Together, they came to realize the area’s potential, which has helped pave the way for the developments to now start to click.

“That synergy has made that successful and it’s spilling over into the Southeast Heights,” Davis said.

The story above also gets into how these new projects and jobs may impact the Sunport directly in terms of generating more air travel and business trips, etc., especially now that the pandemic's effect on air travel is waning. The story mentions the recent return of flights and flight frequency at the Sunport. Earlier this month Albuquerque Business First reported that JetBlue was returning to its pre-pandemic frequency at the Sunport.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...-to-return-daily-service-to-sunport.html

Traveling from the Land of Enchantment to the Big Apple just got easier.

The Albuquerque International Sunport announced Thursday that JetBlue will increase the frequency of its popular nonstop flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York. JetBlue previously operated at a twice-a-week frequency between Albuquerque and New York, but that picked up to four times a week in May.

Now, JetBlue will offer daily service to New York from mid-June to July, and then drop to five times per week through the end of summer.

In a statement to Business First, Stephanie Kitts, public information officer for the Sunport, said JetBlue's ramped up service will return it to its pre-Covid flight schedule out of the Sunport. She added that the reason JetBlue is increasing service is a direct result of air travel demand climbing as vaccinations increase, covid cases fall, and restrictions continue to be lifted.

"This demand is very much leisure-oriented and, industry-wide we expect that to be the case for quite some time," Kitts said in a statement.

[ABQalex]

The first public meeting for the Rail Trail was held earlier this week at the Rail Yards. The city estimates that about $590 million in development could be spurred by the project.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...ghing-community-input-on-rail-trail.html

About 150 people gathered this week to discuss how the city plans to transform a one-mile stretch from the Rail Yards Market to East Downtown into a bike and pedestrian path.

The project is known as the "Rail Trail." Spearheaded by the city's Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency (MRA), the Rail Trail is one of 10 key projects for the agency in 2021. MRA welcomed the community at the Rail Yards Market on Tuesday night, giving them stickers to use to indicate their preferences on potential attractions and aesthetics along the route.
...

According to a flier distributed at the event, MRA anticipates about $590 million could be unlocked in redevelopment potential with the Rail Trail project.

Downtown Albuquerque News reported earlier this week that the nonprofit Street Food Institute is looking to build a new headquarters in Barelas on 2nd Street across from the Rail Yards. From the PDF file that the story linked to, it looks like it will be a joint project with Homewise and is planned to be a mixed-use project that will include housing and ground-floor commercial space.

https://downtownalbuquerquenews.com/

A nonprofit foodservice business incubator whose alumni include the people behind Buen Provecho and the Vegos food truck is planning a major expansion into the Barelas neighborhood.

Street Food Institute, which presently operates out of facilities at CNM and at a UNM office park, has outgrown its space, executive director Tina Garcia-Shams told DAN.

"There's a lot of juggling we have to do, especially when we're at full capacity," she said.

The expansion to 2nd and Hazeldine, a project tentatively estimated to cost $2 million, is far from a done deal. Street Food Institute will need to raise the money, but they have already formed a partnership with Homewise, the nonprofit mortgage lender that owns the property and maintains a headquarters at Second and Lead.

If all goes to plan, they will begin building next year on a block that is slated for other extensive development in the coming years. The city is presently locked in a court battle to seize the triangular property directly to the south of the proposed site in order to build a roundabout. The ongoing Rail Trail project promises a nearby park-like pathway to the Downtown core. And while the Rail Yards development itself will soon bring more buildings online, some Street Food Institute students are already involved at the Rail Yards Market.

Below is a link to the PDF file for the project and screencaps that I made of the renderings and ground-floor layout of the project.

https://downtownalbuquerquenews.us3.list...d6f0128cc4af9&id=85ee03b6f7&e=08c25cc31c







Downtown Albuquerque News earlier this week also reported about Homewise getting ready to break ground on its townhomes in Downtown Albuquerque later this summer. The townhomes will be market rate but Homewise says it will offer its traditional help to any potential buyers to purchase the units.

Since it settled into its headquarters building at Second and Lead in 2019, Homewise has been known primarily for two things: First, as a nonprofit mortgage lender that specializes in financial coaching paired with downpayment assistance, sometimes in order to help people buy formerly distressed homes that the organization itself has brought back from abandonment. Second, as the purchaser or lender behind some key neighborhood properties, including the former B. Ruppe Drugs, a complex of buildings across from the Barelas Coffee House, and the new Por Vida Tattoo location at Fourth and Coal.

But this summer, the organization will add new construction to its Albuquerque portfolio, breaking ground on 16 three-story townhomes built in two sections along Silver between Second and Third. The sites are presently surface parking lots but were always slated for development as part of the larger Casitas de Colores complex. The Great Recession seems to have sidelined those plans, CEO Mike Loftin told DAN, but Homewise worked with the city, which had originally donated the land, and the old developer to effectively take over the final leg of the project.

The permit applications for the 16 Homewise townhomes were submitted to the city last month and are ready to issue, according to the city's online permit system. There will be 8 townhomes with addresses on Titanium Street and 8 with addresses on Platinum Street. There are 16 total building permit applications but I will link to just the first home for each street below.

https://posse.cabq.gov/posse/pub/lms/Default.aspx?PossePresentation=Public&PosseObjectId=135127788

https://posse.cabq.gov/posse/pub/lms/Default.aspx?PossePresentation=Public&PosseObjectId=135128603

Here's a nice aerial picture of Downtown Albuquerque from earlier this year showing the area where the new townhomes will be built to complete the block where the Casitas de Colores apartments and Elements townhomes are located.


https://www.instagram.com/p/CLNL7DtnM-_/

Unfortunately, the Garduños restaurant at Winrock announced its closure earlier this week. It had been there for almost 30 years. The owners say that they may open another location in the Heights in the future. The one good thing for Winrock is that Goodman Realty says that it may turn the structure into a food hall with about 6 vendors.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...lose-at-winrock-town-center-in-july.html

Local restaurant Garduño's is set to close its Winrock Town Center location, citing uncertainty over where it fit into its landlord's long-term plans.

After its last day on July 3, Garduño's 55 employees will be transferred to its other restaurants at Cottonwood Mall and Hotel Albuquerque.

Tug Herig, the president of Southwest Brands — the parent company of Garduño's — told Business First that the restaurant had contemplated the departure from Winrock since fall of 2020. He added that Garduño's is now looking at an alternative location in the Northeast Heights.

The landlord is local development company Goodman Realty Group. Scott Goodman, VP of the company, said the restaurant's departure was expected. Goodman had previously looked at downsizing Garduño's restaurant, which currently measures in at 12,000 square feet, but those talks died off during the pandemic.

"Everything in our long-term development vision is to benefit our tenants and drive business for them. The more business they all do, the more likely they are to stay in the Winrock community," Goodman wrote in a statement.

With Garduño's exiting its restaurant at 2100 Louisiana Blvd. NE, Suite 205, Goodman said the company is now considering converting the space into a food hall. He anticipates it would have room for six food hall vendors. He expects the renovation would cost $2 million to $3 million.

"I think it would just crush it up there," Goodman said. "[Food halls] really combine the social and entertainment aspect. … It's an experimental dining option that we don't have at Winrock right now, but I think it would be very popular."

The food hall concept is in the preliminary stages. The permitting process has not started and construction drawings still need to be finalized. Goodman said work could begin at the beginning of 2022 with delivery by next summer.

Here's the Albuquerque Journal's story about the restaurant's closure, which includes pics of the interior and more about the restaurant's heyday.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2402484/long-standing-mexican-restaurant-at-winrock-to-close.html

The brick interior and colorful pieces of art at the Uptown location of Garduño’s of Mexico will soon be a thing of the past.

Garduño’s is poised to close its largest location at Albuquerque’s Winrock Town Center July 3 after nearly 30 years of operation, according to company president Tug Herig.

Herig said that when the 12,000-square-foot Uptown location opened in 1993 it became one of the top Mexican restaurants in the country in terms of volume, but the demand for a restaurant of that size has decreased in the years since.

[ABQalex]

The Albuquerque Journal is doing a series about Albuquerque's rapidly rising housing costs of late and how that may negatively affect us in terms of being looked at as an affordable place to live and the ability of locals to purchase homes in this competitive and increasingly expensive market. It frames it in terms of harming our economic and social development.

One of the stories looks at Boise, Idaho, which is in an even worse position, with median home prices reaching exorbitant levels compared to Albuquerque's comparatively modest increases. One story talks to local homebuilders who say the answer is to build more homes but say they face several issues with that. They talk about the great difficulties encountered because of NIMBYs and the outsized influence they have. The city's efforts (and shortcomings) in getting more affordable housing and apartments built is also explored.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2403491/perfect-storm-threatens-abqs-housing-affordability.html

In May, the median price for a single-family detached home in metro Albuquerque reached $290,000 – a market record and a staggering 26.1% increase from a year prior, according to the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors.

Realtors have stories of buyers who offered to pay back the college loans of sellers to get an offer accepted. Buyers have stories of touring homes with walls that are close to toppling and appliances that have been torn out. And no one sees an end in sight.

“We’re forcing people into this frenzy, and who it really hurts is the people just trying to get their foothold,” said Mackenzie Bishop, co-owner of Albuquerque-based home builder Abrazo Homes. “They’re trying to get their first house, they’re trying to have a place for their kids to go.”

In February 2020, a month before New Mexico reported its first cases of COVID-19, the median Albuquerque home spent about 47 days on the market. Fifteen months later, that average had dropped to 13 days, according to GAAR data.

While some of that is due to high demand, Bishop, who also serves as the president of the Homebuilders Association of Central New Mexico, said the market has long built fewer homes than it needed to keep up with demand.

Bishop said metro Albuquerque is on pace to file between 2,700 and 3,000 home building permits in 2021, the highest total in 13 years. However, Bishop cited a study from New Mexico Apartment Advisors that estimated that the city needs 17,000 units to keep up with demand.

“We’re falling further behind, not even getting close to catching up,” Bishop said.

Most of the experts agreed that building more market-rate housing in and around Albuquerque is the best way to ease supply concerns. But that’s easier said that done.

Dan Majewski, an urban design consultant based in Albuquerque, said adding dense development, particularly along transit corridors like Central Avenue, will be key as the city grows. He said he’s optimistic that the city is beginning to understand that denser development will be a priority. The more units that can be built in the existing footprint of the city, the more the city can meet its housing demand without relying on sprawl.

“Ideally, you’re creating a market environment where affordable market-rate housing can be built,” Majewski said.

However, Bishop said dense development tends to attract opposition from neighbors who are concerned about traffic and noise. Bishop said he thinks the city makes it too easy for residents to object to new developments, which creates costly and time-consuming lawsuits that hamper new housing. He said he’d like to see the city move away from treating development as a political process, which he said encourages low-density, high-cost development.

“The city is trying to acquiesce and satisfy this vocal minority and vocal opposition, and they’ve become the most powerful land planners in Albuquerque,” Bishop said.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2404123/neighbor.html

Albuquerque is in the midst of a spike in housing costs that most experts agree is unlike any in the market’s recent history.

Metro Albuquerque, long considered to have a less volatile market than many of its Western neighbors, has seen the median sales price for a single-family detached house rise by more than 25% in a single year, solidifying it as one of the hottest housing markets in the country.

“This is an incredible year-on-year increase in property values,” said Reilly White, associate professor of finance at the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management.

But while this sort of spike is nearly unprecedented in Albuquerque, other Western cities have been through similar growth cycles in recent years.

In Boise, Idaho, the average home price has more than tripled in the past nine years. In Ada County, where Boise is located, the median sales price passed $500,000 in May, after being roughly comparable to metro Albuquerque’s a decade earlier, according to data from Boise Regional Realtors.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2404191/housi...ues-economic-and-social-development.html

The city of Albuquerque is in the midst of a half-million-dollar recruitment campaign, hoping to lure new and former residents to New Mexico’s largest city. Targeted primarily at people living in large American metropolitan areas, the economic development effort highlights what many have long touted as the city’s best assets: Clean air. Open space. Diversity. Sunshine. Inexpensive housing.

“Let’s talk about cost of living. It’s lower here,” reads the digital, city-funded Home for Life recruitment campaign. “In Albuquerque, your dream space is waiting for you – and you can actually afford it.”

But while Albuquerque homes remain cheaper than many other metropolitan areas, some say the city’s claim of affordability is increasingly questionable.

In Albuquerque, a home that sold for $200,000 in early 2019 would have been valued at $244,000 by the beginning of this year based on average local appreciation, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency calculator.

“Certainly for the working population, or the middle class working population, it’s harder and harder to afford a house,” said longtime Albuquerque City Councilor Isaac Benton, who has for years advocated for investments in subsidized housing.

In the story above it is also revealed that the Brown Property is now planned to be developed with 60 apartments and 23 single family homes.

An outside 2020 analysis found that the city was 15,500 housing units short of meeting the need of those with extremely low incomes.

Benton said the city should be putting more toward affordable housing. The city is getting over $100 million from the American Rescue Plan Act federal COVID-19 package alone, and Benton said the city should be maximizing it with sweeping housing investments rather than what it has done so far, which is to put a piece toward housing but also scattering dollars across many city needs, such as government vehicles, city building improvements and business grants.

“When we have a windfall, it shouldn’t be something that we divide up (into) equal pieces of the pie for parts of town as opposed to something that could really help turn us around,” he said. “Housing is also about health.”

Benton also wants the city to diversify its investments. He said trust fund money is too often tethered to apartment projects reliant on highly competitive low-income federal tax credits. The city’s money can – and, Benton contends, should more regularly – go toward buying land for future developments or buildings that could be rehabilitated into housing for low- and middle-income households. The city has done that on occasions; in fact, a 5-acre North Valley parcel it bought six years ago is now slated for a development that will include 60 affordable rental units, plus 23 homes – six of which will be designated as affordable.

That's just 83 units on 5 acres, which is completely absurd. It's a waste of that land purchase. But it is apparently what the winning proposal needed to be, based upon the demands of the neighborhood associations in the planning stages for formulating the RFP. They advocated for less density and nothing taller than 3 stories. I submitted a FOIA request to the city two weeks ago for the proposals submitted to the RFP buy they have not responded thus far, other than the generic, automated message about responses being delayed by the pandemic. It will be interesting to see what other, larger proposals the city may have passed over in this RFP like they did with the EDo RFP.

It's infuriating that Albuquerque is in an affordable housing and affordability crisis that could be eased by building more housing, yet the North Valley NIMBYs seem to have succeeded in scaling back the Brown Property RFP from its original 140-unit potential that a consultant identified. It just shows how out of touch and out control these NIMBYs are. It also shows how negatively they can affect our city with their unfettered obstruction. The North Valley NIMBYs are giving the Nob Hill NIMBYs a run for their money in obstructing and keeping our city from reaching its full potential.

They are also fighting and demonizing Michael Dreskin's projects along north 4th Street, projects that are succeeding in bringing non-subsidized affordable apartments to the city. His projects are mixed-use, with ground-floor commercial space to boot, and these people complain that they are monolithic at 3-5 stories. They succeeded in getting the city to change the IDO rules in order to make it harder for projects like his to be built. These people are a disgrace and a danger to our city's future health.

[bleuler]

Thanks for the posts as usual. I know I sound like a broken record- but having lived in several cities- it’s usually the same conclusion. Rather than sprawl- build high rises downtown. Fewer NIMBYS to object. Can put the ART line to good use!

[ABQalex]

Originally Posted by bleuler

Thanks for the posts as usual. I know I sound like a broken record- but having lived in several cities- it’s usually the same conclusion. Rather than sprawl- build high rises downtown. Fewer NIMBYS to object. Can put the ART line to good use!

Yes, I agree. The problem is, even Downtown Albuquerque is threatened by NIMBYs who don't want to see anything 'too tall' built. The Silver Platinum Downtown Neighborhood Association is run like a fiefdom by one man, Ron Casias. And he tries to wield his inflated power like all the other NIMBY neighborhood associations across the city, to obstruct things and immediately oppose any new development proposal.

When our previous mayor issued the Skyline Competition RFP with the express intent of producing a new tallest building in the city, the SPDNA immediately came out saying that the lot at 1st and Silver was not appropriate for a high-rise building. It's of course completely absurd thinking that anywhere in Downtown Albuquerque would be an inappropriate place for a high-rise building. It's maybe the only place in New Mexico where a high-rise building wouldn't look out of place, perhaps along with Uptown.



I'm sorry for going on about NIMBYs but I think most people on a skyscraper and urban development-focused forum will agree that they are bad, lol.

[ABQalex]

The Albuquerque Journal has a story about Albuquerque Economic Development's five-year strategic plan that they released today for economic development in the city.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2404655/abq-economic-developers-set-lofty-jobs-goal.html

Albuquerque economic developers are setting lofty goals for stimulating job creation in the metro area, boosting the city’s brand nationally, and working to overcome some of its most stubbornly entrenched problems.

A first-of-its-kind five-year strategic plan commissioned by Albuquerque Economic Development was released Tuesday by AED officials. It lays out the organization’s vision: That the greater Albuquerque area be known and recognized for having the highest quality of life and the most diverse, sustainable economy in the region.

It’s going to be a heavy lift, said AED president and CEO Danielle Casey.

AED’s specific five-year goal is that Albuquerque rank in the top 25% of mid-sized markets in the U.S. for job growth. That would be a coup for the metro area, which only saw .7% job growth in the last five years, placing it in the bottom 25% for cities with a population of between 500,000 and 1 million people, Casey said.

AED also looked at where Albuquerque ranks on a number of metrics as compared to 10 other metro areas that compete for some of the same economic development opportunities: Dallas; Phoenix; Salt Lake City; Boise, Idaho; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Des Moines, Iowa; El Paso, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Tucson, Arizona; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The hurdles AED lays out aren’t insignificant — or new. Crime, poverty, homelessness, ineffective education and workforce preparation, and a lack of national and major publicly traded companies are just a few that made the list.

AED’s study asserts that Albuquerque’s metro area violent and property crime is lower than the national average — but higher than all the other 10 cities except Tulsa. The most recent crime statistics released by the FBI, however, show that Albuquerque outstrips the national average in both violent and property crime rates.

In the article the Journal reporter takes issue with their crime numbers, yet doesn't bother to question that ridiculous 5-year job growth percentage that they give before that.

I don't know what numbers AED is looking at, but going by the official BLS numbers I come up with a vastly different job growth percentage for Albuquerque in recent years.

They say Albuquerque has only had .7 percent job growth in the last five years but that doesn't jibe at all with a fair reading of the most recent statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Albuquerque MSA.

Taking a look at job creation pre-pandemic (the only fair gauge, since job losses due to the pandemic are unprecedented) the city added 17,400 jobs between February 2016 and February 2020, which is right before the pandemic. That's a 5-year growth rate of 4.5 percent.

Looking at any other recent month after February 2020 and comparing it to five years prior would yield negative job growth. Therefore, pre-pandemic numbers are the only fair and possible way to gauge actual job growth for Albuquerque.

I don't have time to crunch the numbers for all metro areas between 500,000 and 1 million people, but the percentage that they give is off for Albuquerque, which calls into question their numbers and methods.

Albuquerque's jobs numbers were on an upward trajectory between January 2012 and February 2020, before the pandemic caused massive job losses here and everywhere else in the country

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/SMU35107...ble&output_view=data&include_graphs=true



Albuquerque Business First also reported about AED's strategic plan today. They repeat the ridiculous job creation percentage and also include an equally ridiculous job growth percentage for the next five years that AED is apparently projecting.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...w-strategic-plan-for-abq-job-growth.html

Refining its outreach, increasing digital marketing efforts and honing in on specific targets of industries are all part of a new, bigger vision for Albuquerque Economic Development that it announced Tuesday.

The goal? Over the next five years, AED wants the Duke City to rank in the top 25% of mid-sized markets — between 500,000 and 1 million people — in terms of job growth. AED hopes to accomplish this goal by growing in four separate areas.

Grow and diversify the regional economy
Champion the region and establish a national brand
Address issues and challenges that will increase regional competitiveness
Modernize the organization for long term success

The AED board approved the plan earlier this month.

AED will heighten its business expansion and recruitment efforts on the six following industries:

Aerospace
Biosciences
Renewable Energy
Digital Media & Film
Corporate & Professional Services
Manufacturing

Those sectors were chosen after consulting with economic development leaders from Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance and Valencia counties, and considering the state's economic development priorities. AED believes it can leverage some of New Mexico's strong-performing resources like the national labs.

Over the past five years, AED found that Albuquerque's job growth rate was 0.7%, which ranks it in the bottom quarter of similar cities. Albuquerque's projected job growth rate for the next five years is at 1.2%. That still lags behind cities like Colorado Springs, Colorado (2.3%) and Boise, Idaho (3.6%).

I'm guessing that low growth number is if their plan is not implemented or successful, the only way it could make sense. But none of this makes much sense anyway.

Albuquerque would need to add just 4,812 jobs over the next five years to equal 1.2 percent of its pre-pandemic jobs total of 401,000 in February 2020. Just the Orion Center (1,000), Amazon (2,000), Netflix (1,000), Facebook (300) and Intel (700) together could add that amount of jobs in that timeframe.

But let's say they're talking about Albuquerque adding jobs from where it stands today after the worst of the pandemic. Albuquerque in just the last year has added back 27,900 jobs for a growth rate of 7.9 percent over the last year. So that alone also flies in the face of a 1.2 percent job growth projection over 5 years.

https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.nm_albuquerque_msa.htm

Most places have seen a dramatic bounce back in jobs once fully re-opening with no restrictions, like we are about to do here in Albuquerque. I'm sure we'll get back to where we were before the pandemic within the next year, let alone the next five years.

[bleuler]

Interesting. They’re so bullish I have to wonder if they know a ton we don’t. Hope that’s the case.

Regarding NIMBYS- I also have massive problems with their ethos as I work in mental health field

[ABQalex]

Albuquerque Business First reported last week that the 28,000 sq ft mixed-use building at Winrock Town Center will now begin construction in the fall, after a delay caused by the pandemic.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...ing-at-winrock-to-break-ground-fall.html

Construction for a new Uptown office and retail building is now expected to begin this fall.

Scott Goodman, VP of Goodman Realty Group, told Business First the Covid-19 pandemic pushed original timeline for the mixed-use, three-story Portland Building at Winrock Town Center to October. He added that there haven't been any tenant commitments yet and the building is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2023 after an 18-month construction period.

Sandia Resort and Casino re-opened on Friday after being closed due to the pandemic since March last year. It has also completed a $100 million renovation and expansion project.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...o-preview-ahead-of-friday-reopening.html

It had been nearly 16 months since guests had a chance to test their luck at Sandia Resort & Casino. That wait ends Friday.

After its closure in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sandia Resort & Casino completed a major expansion and renovation that totaled over $100 million and added 75,000 square feet to the property. The additions include a third-floor sports bar with about 50 televisions and new gaming machines, an outdoor bar and lounge, a new high-limit gaming floor that's three times the size of the previous one, the Mountainside restaurant and more.

Renovations include new carpeting and paint on the gaming floor along with an upgraded HVAC system. Each hotel room has also been renovated, as has the Bein Shur restaurant at the top level of the hotel.

Here's a rendering of the 3-story, 70,000 sq ft addition to Sandia Resort and Casino that was recently completed.



Rio Rancho's Campus Park has completed its initial phase and it opened to the public on the 4th of July with a concert by the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra and the 44th Army Band. The concert was held in the park's signature Sky Room Amphitheater.

https://rrobserver.com/city-hosts-free-july-4-event-at-new-park/





A few more pics of the amphitheater and park from the Rio Rancho city website.

https://rrnm.gov/4657/Campus-Park













KOB-TV last night reported about the new Campus Park and another nice project coming to Rio Rancho, The Boardwalk shipping container community.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/container-park-slated-to-be-built-in-rio-rancho/6163407/



Here are a few more renderings of the project from its Facebook page. There are more to be found there. It looks like it will be very nice if they stick to what's shown in the renderings!

https://www.facebook.com/TheBoardwalkContainerPark/













KOB-TV last week also reported about the return of customers to bars and nightclubs in Downtown Albuquerque now that all business restrictions have been lifted in the state.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/dow...-to-welcome-back-more-customers/6161048/



A neat recent aerial drone video on YouTube showing the Rail Yards and the continuing project by the city to put new roofs on the buildings. Work is now focused on the second-largest structure at the Rail Yards, the Boiler Shop, where CNM plans to put its Film Center of Excellence.

• Video Link

A couple of nice recent pics on Instagram showing the weekly Rail Yards Market. The plaza that was added at the Rail Yards is another project of the city to improve the site and it's looking great!




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

The mural at 505 Central has been completed. Below are a news report and pic from the New Mexico United showing the completed mural. It came out great!

• Video Link


https://mobile.twitter.com/NewMexicoUTD/status/1409890220141514759

A recent report by KRQE about the city’s effort to redesign the local bus system. Free ridership for all began last week on July 1st.

• Video Link

The old house at 6th and Coal has been demolished. This means the new 45-unit supportive housing complex for homeless vets and families should get underway soon at the site.

• Video Link

The south tower of the old county jail in Downtown Albuquerque is now being demolished.




https://www.instagram.com/p/CRAWpo1l8kZ/

Recent pics of the new Bernalillo County @ Alvarado Square complex. It will open to the public on August 16th.


https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ_1JErL_mN/






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

[WestCoastSupertall]

Originally Posted by bleuler

Thanks for the posts as usual. I know I sound like a broken record- but having lived in several cities- it’s usually the same conclusion. Rather than sprawl- build high rises downtown. Fewer NIMBYS to object. Can put the ART line to good use!

^^ Sprawl is highly inadvisable

[ABQalex]

The Albuquerque Journal has a story about a new development plan and strategy that will be revealed for Innovate ABQ today (Thursday).

https://www.abqjournal.com/2409694/innovate-abq-unveiling-downtown-plan.html

UNM will unveil an updated master plan this afternoon to reinvigorate the build-out of the 7-acre site at the corner of Central and Broadway. The new plan calls for a more flexible approach to developing the Old First Baptist Church property that UNM acquired in 2014, allowing it to be built in more manageable, bite-size spurts, said Lisa Kuuttila, president and CEO of Rainforest Innovations, which manages the university’s entrepreneurship and technology-transfer programs.

That could help renew investor interest and funding for the site, which UNM, public officials and private sector partners have worked on since 2015 to turn into a bustling Innovation District in the heart of Albuquerque where new, high-tech businesses can access needed resources to launch and grow.

UNM asked Perkins & Will, the design firm that created the original master plan in 2015, to “refresh” its design strategy based on changes in the local business and economic development landscape since the first plan came out, Kuuttila said.

“We expect the new strategy will help us navigate those changes and take advantage of new opportunities,” Kuuttila told the Journal. “We expect quite a bit of development to occur over the next five years.”

One major change, for example, would convert the west side of the Innovate ABQ property – which abuts Downtown’s north-south railroad tracks – into a welcoming gateway into the research and development zone. That area could become a central hub, or public gathering place, for people to meet or hang out, possibly with coffee shops, restaurants, and maybe a brewery and small park located there, said Perkins & Will Principal David Green.

“It would become a new front door to the innovation district,” Green told the Journal. “That’s where everyone working at Innovate ABQ or surrounding businesses would sit down at 5 p.m., drink a beer and watch people walking by or biking through the area.”

A welcoming entrance there would organically connect Innovate ABQ to the city’s new “rail trail” project, which aims to turn the north-south rail line into a lively public pathway that runs from Lomas in the north to the rail yards in the south.

The city envisions new parks, businesses, multi-family housing and more lining up along the trail to create a connecting thread that unites Downtown’s northern and southern sides, plus the east and west sides as well, which are currently separated by the railroad tracks, said Karen Iverson, manager for the city’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency.

Strategies for direct construction at Innovate ABQ will also change under the updated master plan. For one thing, an original design concept to extend existing streets and build new ones in crisis-crossing fashion throughout the site has been scratched. That original design aimed to make the entire site accessible with vehicles from all directions – including Central on the south, Broadway on the east and Tijeras on the north – while dividing the Innovate ABQ property into blocks to allow construction to progress in quadrants.

But changes in and around the property now interfere with those plans. For instance, the six-story Lobo Rainforest Building, which UNM opened in 2017, now occupies some area originally designated for street extension.

The new plan calls for more flexible, agile development, with four- to five-story multi-tenant buildings constructed as project initiatives, investor interest and funding emerges. The buildings themselves would be scaled to need, with perhaps 5,000-square-foot spaces created for different tenants rather than a huge, 100,000-square-foot facility for one agency or institution.

“The (new) plan is designed to be flexible and adaptable for incremental implementation,” said Perkins & Will Project Manager Paul Ward. “The Albuquerque innovation market is different from other cities. Occupants tend to seek smaller, multi-tenant buildings, so we envision many pieces fitting together and developed flexibly over time.”

As new facilities are constructed, the ground floors will always incorporate gathering and networking spaces inside and out to promote the networking and community sharing opportunities that lead to creative innovation, Coulston said.

[ABQalex]

The Albuquerque Journal has a story about some of the development plans that were revealed today for Innovate ABQ. The story details development plans for the 2-story education wing of the old First Baptist Church. The online presentation barely happened at 4 pm, so hopefully more information about the plan for the entire site will be forthcoming.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2410027/innovate-abq-parochial-school-to-become-bioscience-lab.html

Shovels could break ground early next year to turn the two-story parochial school attached to the old First Baptist Church Downtown into a modern bioscience lab for startup companies.

The University of New Mexico is finalizing a deal with California-based developer HatchSpaces LLC to take over the project as part of the Innovate ABQ high-tech research and development zone at Broadway and Central, executives from HatchSpaces told local community leaders in an online forum Thursday afternoon.

“We’re close to being able to formally announce the kick off of the project,” HatchSpaces principal Howard Kozloff told forum participants. “There’s just some ‘i’s’ still to dot and ‘t’s’ to cross.”

The company specializes in building research and development facilities for bioscience companies, making the Innovate ABQ project a good fit, Kozloff said. It plans to convert the 26,000-square-foot structure, which sits on the west side of the First Baptist Church Sanctuary and office tower, into wet labs and office space for startup companies looking to launch and grow in Albuquerque.

The company hopes to break ground on the renovation in early 2022, after finalizing its partnership with UNM and acquiring regulatory approvals, Kozloff said.

“We have some diligence left to fully assess the condition of the building, but we envision about nine months of construction time,” he said.

[ABQalex]

Here is KOB-TV's report about the new plan for Innovate ABQ. It says the new plan envisions 5 new structures of 4-5 stories on the site. It also mentions the plans to transform the education wing. It looks like eventually the building housing the CNM FUSE Makerspace would be replaced by one of the new structures. In the report they show the renderings, diagrams and site plans envisioning the new plan and strategy for development of the site.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/new-buildings-planned-for-central-and-broadway/6172780/



Downtown Albuquerque News this morning reported about the status of the Arrive Hotel project. The story didn't really provide any new information or updated timeline for the project, it mainly focused on Arrive Hotels being acquired by Palisociety and whether that will impact the project. The city says that they still expect the project to go forward under the new ownership.

https://downtownalbuquerquenews.com/

After 18 months of construction delays, the future of Hotel Blue remains as opaque as ever even as new corporate parents assume ownership of the building.

Los Angeles-based Arrive Hotels and Restaurants purchased the six-story hotel on Eighth and Central in 2018, and the following year unveiled its restoration plan, a $24 million project backed by $1.1 million in tax breaks approved by the city.

Plans called for a complete renovation of all 135 rooms and a restoration of the exterior facade that would return the building to its original 1965 look. The company also promised other amenities, including a coffee shop on the ground floor, meeting and event rooms, and regular food trucks in the adjacent parking lot. (Though they pulled back on the idea of a full restaurant.) Ground was to be broken by 2020, and Arrive was hopeful the new hotel would open sometime in 2021.

Last year, Arrive blamed some delays on a drawn-out permitting process and then on the pandemic, which disrupted its financing package.

Then, last November, a Los Angeles-based company called Palisociety acquired Arrive and Hotel Blue, according to a press release that did not disclose the terms of the purchase. Palisociety announced the purchase in January.

So far, the new owner isn't saying much about the renovation's progress: "They are still very much in pre-development mode on the hotel so don't have a ton of confirmed detail to share quite yet," a representative for Palisociey's PR firm, Raluca State Public Relations, told DAN. "Construction is hopefully slated to start again in the coming months. All pending some COVID-related delays and outside factors."

City spokeswoman Sarah Wheeler, who works with the same Economic Development Department that helped organize the $1.1 million tax break, said the department believes Palisociety still plans to proceed.

KRQE late last month also reported about the renovation of the University Lodge/Avenue Hotel. The renovation thus far has mostly focused on the rooms themselves. The owner says that the renovation plans have now changed from the original plans that were released three years ago. The three-story addition with commercial space and microbrewery over the pool won't be built. Instead, the pool area will be improved and kept as a focal point of the hotel. She also says she will seek city help in getting the exterior and structural renovations completed.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/old-route-66-motel-getting-makeover/

• Video Link



KRQE also recently reported about a renovation at the historic Lobo Theater that will turn it into a bar, event space and concert venue.

https://www.krqe.com/news/business/lobo-theater-to-be-turned-into-bar-event-center/

[ABQalex]

BlueHalo has now confirmed its plans to locate and build at the Max Q development at Kirtland Air Force Base. It will spend $60 million to build out a 200,000 sq ft facility that will house offices, labs and manufacturing space. The project will also add 64 new jobs to the company’s existing count of 260 employees.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...ng-expansion-into-max-q-development.html

Virginia-based defense firm BlueHalo will build a new 200,000-square-foot development at Albuquerque's Max Q business park that will boost the number of the company's employees.

The company previously confirmed to Business First that it was scouting a move to the site, but local and state officials on Tuesday confirmed the expansion the development near Gibson Boulevard and Carlisle Boulevard. It plans a $60 million capital investment into the site.

The expansion will bring with it 64 jobs at an average salary of $90,000, in addition to 260 existing employees in New Mexico. The campus will include office, lab and manufacturing facilities.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department will provide $2.25 million in Local Economic Development Act incentives for the expansion, plus $250,000 from the city of Albuquerque. LEDA money is used as a closing fund to grow existing New Mexico businesses and recruit others to the state.

The total economic impact for the project over the next decade is $3.2 billion, according to the office of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The story above also mentions another development that was recently announced for Max Q, an innovation hub for space-related companies called Unite & Ignite Space. It is an initiative by New Space New Mexico and government partners including the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Kevin Yearout, managing partner of Thunderbird, initially declined to name the initial tenants and was unable to be reached for further comment. BlueHalo's expansion will go alongside a new "co-innovation" hub being built at the site by commercial space industry organization NewSpace New Mexico. Called the Unite & Ignite Space, the NewSpace facility will include shared lab, office and conference areas, Business First reported.

The mixed-use Max Q development is set to come in phases. The first phase will include six office buildings comprised of a total of 240,000 square feet, with smaller restaurant and retail spaces situated along Gibson Boulevard SE. As of November 2020, Thunderbird was in active negotiations with three “build-to-suit” tenants, Yearout said, adding that one was a government agency.

Here's a report by KOB-TV from earlier this month when the Unite & Ignite Space Innovation Hub was announced for Max Q. Senator Martin Heinrich also announced $11 million in federal funding for the initiative. The announcement happened at a separate facility that has already opened for the initiative on the northwestern edge of the airport. The existing facility houses co-working space, meeting space, provide resources and will host events. The new facility that will be constructed at Max Q will have labs, clean rooms and makerspaces for new and budding companies involved in space.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/new...o-launch-nm-into-final-frontier/6165485/



Here's another recent story about the new Unite & Ignite Space innovation hub that highlights other recent investments by the Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory on Kirtland Air Force Base.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tec...ation-hub-launches-with-federal-funding/

The announcement comes as the Department of Defense is investing heavily in upgrading the space-related facilities at Kirtland Air Force Base, which hosts AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate as well as the U.S. Space Force’s Space Rapid Capabilities Office and the Innovation and Prototyping Directorate within the Space and Missile Systems Center. One day before the New Mexico innovation hub was announced, the Space Force officially opened a new $17 million facility: the Rendezvous and Proximity (REPR) Satellite Operations Center. Recent investments by AFRL include a $4 million Deployable Structures Laboratory, a $3.5 million Skywave Technology Laboratory, and a $12.8 million Space Warfighting Operations Research and Development Lab.

Here's KOAT's coverage of today's announcement by BlueHalo that includes a rendering of the new facility that they will build at Max Q.

https://www.koat.com/article/bluehalo-ex...ith-average-salary-of-dollar90k/37080728

[ABQalex]

I finally received the files for the two submissions that the city received for the Brown Property RFP. Below are the details, layouts and renderings for the two proposals by YES Housing and Palindrome Communities. The proposal by YES Housing was the winning proposal. It has a total cost of $23 million and is slated to begin construction late next year.

Yes Housing proposal, "Calle Cuarta" - 10,440 sq ft commercial space, 60 multifamily units and 19 single family homes


















Palindrome Communities proposal, "The Works" - 8,000 sq ft of commercial space, 87 multifamily units and 16 single family homes

















The proposal by YES Housing is perfectly adequate but the Palindrome Communities proposal would've been spectacular. It is more architecturally significant, while the winning proposal is run-of-the-mill, design-wise. I also think that the covered space in The Works proposal would've been a much more compelling magnet to draw people from outside the area to the development, which was one of the RFP's stated goals. It could've been one of the city's great gathering spaces, I think. The glass roof sort of reminds me of the glass walls of the Rail Yards buildings. Its just a more interesting and quality design overall.

[ABQalex]

Homewise broke ground and began construction of its 16 townhomes in Downtown Albuquerque today. The project is being called the Palladium Townhomes and is being built on the unfinished lots of the Elements Townhomes project from about a decade ago that stalled because of the Great Recession. In the story below by Albuquerque Business First another new-construction home ownership project is revealed by Homewise for the Westside.

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/...reaks-ground-on-palladium-townhomes.html

Homewise Inc. aims to bring more access to first-time homebuyers while bringing added investment to Downtown Albuquerque with the addition of Palladium Townhomes.

Santa Fe-based Homewise broke ground Wednesday on 16 new townhomes spread across two lots in Albuquerque. A groundbreaking ceremony for Homewise's first new construction in the city was held Wednesday on the corner of Second Street and Silver Avenue. Meanwhile, construction is underway on its other lot near Third Street and Silver Avenue.

"Homeownership is a very powerful source of affordable housing. ... It should always be part of a community's housing strategy," Homewise said. CEO Mike Loftin. "We need more people living Downtown. If the commercial stuff is going to work, people need to be living nearby.

The nonprofit works with home buyers on education on the process. mortgage lending, down-payment assistance and more. The Palladium Townhomes will have mixed-income buyers living across the 16 homes with varying price ranges, Homewise said.

Loftin said Homewise is planning another homeownership project on the Westside that's in the preliminary stages. He added that Homewise is acquiring and rehabbing vacant and abandoned homes.

Business First reported in February that Homewise's townhome project was one of the city's Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency's 10 key projects of 2021. It estimated the cost of the project to be $2 million.

In addition to the city of Albuquerque, Homewise said it also partnered New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority to get the project off the ground.

I haven't been able to find a rendering of the townhomes online but below are pics of the groundbreaking from the city’s Economic Development Department today on Instagram that includes a shot of the banner from the project site depicting the townhomes.




https://www.instagram.com/p/CRmx6SvKexw/

[ABQalex]

KOB-TV has a story about the new APD downtown substation that will be located in the Rosenwald Building. It also talks about the mayor's revitalization plan revealed today for Downtown Albuquerque, which he says begins with tackling crime.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/alb...downtown-add-new-police-station/6179179/



The Rosenwald Building renovation project including the new substation is of course being done by the Garcia family. Downtown Albuquerque News earlier this week reported about some of their developments and real estate holdings in Downtown Albuquerque, including the former Skip Maisel's, which it says will be completely renovated soon.

https://downtownalbuquerquenews.com/

The interior of the former Skip Maisel's Indian Jewelry and Crafts - at 510 Central, easily one of the most colorful storefronts in the Downtown core - is set to be gutted in the next few months as part of a larger renovation, building owner Ed Garcia told DAN in a brief interview.

It's not clear, however, what use the building will ultimately be put to, he added.

Garcia was more tight-lipped about the nearby Rosenwald Building (Fourth and Central), which he recently purchased from the city for $350,000. He declined to comment on his plans for that project, though part of the purchase agreement calls for leasing out a section of one floor to the city for use as a police substation.

The report also talks about the progress at Glorieta Station and the Neon Park exhibit planned for the area nearer to Lomas.

As for Neon Park, an extensive exhibit featuring antique cars, neon signs, and other Route 66 memorabilia set to open near Lomas and Broadway (DAN, 6/23/20), the new target opening date is the spring of 2022, about two years behind schedule.

"We obviously got delayed with COVID," Garcia said.

In the meantime, look for new exterior displays along Lomas and the railroad tracks. He said he was also working with the Unser family to add some of the racing dynasty's memorabilia to the collection.

Here's a newer rendering of Glorieta Station showing the current plans for the development. You can see the Neon Park at the upper center section of the rendering. Changes have also been made to the area around the historic Southwestern Brewery & Ice Company structure.



Here's a rendering that's on display at Glorieta Station showing how the Neon Park may look once it's completed with the sign collection on display. It's from a local real estate group on Facebook.


https://www.facebook.com/CrewNewMexico/photos/a.1078751108809790/4388450944506440/

Downtown Albuquerque News also recently featured this awesome pic by Ben Bunner on Facebook of Downtown Albuquerque during the cloudy and stormy weather we've been having of late in Albuquerque.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10223361662262071

[ABQalex]

The city has released the results of the consultant's study for the United soccer stadium location. It came up with two preferred sites at Broadway/Coal and 2nd Street/Iron.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2412566/consu...ferred-sites-for-abq-soccer-stadium.html

A consultant the city of Albuquerque hired to evaluate the feasibility and economic impact of a multipurpose soccer stadium for New Mexico United’s use says the place to put the venue is either at Coal and Broadway or Second Street and Iron.

CAA ICON determined the “preferred sites” based on an analysis of four locations. The two other sites it evaluated were the Railyards and 12th/Interstate 40.

The city, however, released the report Friday with a press release stating that no decisions have been made.

Albuquerque Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Rael said in a statement that the results will spur a larger public conversation.

“The study is a key part of our due diligence as we explore the possibility of a multi-use facility,” Rael said. “We’re glad to have the results of the study so we can discuss the findings with the community, make proper considerations and initiate next steps.”

Downtown Albuquerque News reported this week that the city is contacting and asking landowners along 2nd Street in the area northwest of the Rail Yards if they'd be willing to sell their land, so it looks like the 2nd Street/Iron location is what they are going to go with. However, most of the landowners DAN talked to said they aren't interested in selling. Those landowners include Homewise, which is planning a partnership with the Street Food Institute to build a mixed-use development on part of the land now identified as a preferred site for the soccer stadium.

https://downtownalbuquerquenews.com/

The city has sent letters to at least three Barelas property owners inquiring about whether they would be interested in selling their Rail Yards-adjacent land as part of a broader yet largely unexplained economic development effort.

"We have some interest, yes," city spokesman Johnny Chandler told DAN. "It's part of Downtown revitalization."

The parcels in question, which are surrounded by Stover, First, Hazeldine, and Second, would add up to most of a square block at least. Most of it is owned by Homewise, the non-profit mortgage lender with a headquarters just two blocks to the north at Coal and Second. Much of the block is presently vacant land, but at least two people who own homes there have also received letters.

The effort, however, seems to be much bigger than that particular area: "The city is showing some interest in a few other locations as well," Chandler said, describing them only as "somewhat in the Downtown area."

The city also seems content to ask rather than demand in this case. Though it is presently locked in a court battle to take via eminent domain a small triangle of land just south of where it sent the recent letters, Chandler said that land seizures were "not the plan at this time." (The city is hoping to build a roundabout on the triangle - DAN, 11/2/20.)
...

But if a straw poll of three property owners conducted this week is any indication, the city will have its work cut out for it in acquiring all those properties.

"I'm not a hard no but I would have to be offered money to be able to purchase an equivalent situation," said Bruce Davis, one of those who received a letter. Good information on what the purchase was ultimately for also seems to be part of his price: "I would want to know what it was," he said.

"I am definitely a no," said Paul Holley, another homeowner on the block.

"We don't have any interest in selling," added Johanna Gilligan, the senior director for community development at Homewise, pointing to a number of other projects the organization was pursuing on its land. (One of them, a possible new location for the Street Food Institute, was profiled in the June 21 DAN.)

And of course the NIMBY neighborhood associations aren't happy about it.

The city may also run into blowback from neighborhood organizations as it moves forward, especially if the move is connected to a new stadium. Many Barelas residents in particular are wary of grand new development projects that attract lots of traffic, especially given their experience with the zoo and its various special events. Concerns that rising property values will push out longtime residents are also widely shared.

But for the moment at least, Barelas Neighborhood Association President Lisa Padilla isn't much impressed with the lack of detail from the city about its plans.

"I would hope that any kind of city acquisition would be done in consultation with the neighborhoods which they impact," she said.

[ABQalex]

Here's KRQE's coverage of the soccer stadium study and site recommendations. The study recommends building a stadium of between 10,000-12,000 seats with the ability to expand to 15,000 seats. The estimated cost to construct is between $64 and $70 million initially, depending on the site chosen. The story on their website includes a link to the full 356-page study.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-me...ial-sites-for-new-mexico-united-stadium/

• Video Link

[ABQalex]

Here's KOB-TV's coverage of the soccer stadium study.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/cit...s-for-new-mexico-united-stadium/6182294/



KRQE had a story earlier today about an announcement that was going to be made during the tailgate party before the United game tonight at Isotopes Park. The United just posted on their Twitter account that the announcement is that a bond to help fund construction of the stadium will go before the city council early next month and if approved will go to voters in November. I haven't seen where they've announced the bond amount, but they say it will not increase taxes.

https://www.krqe.com/sports/nm-united-to-make-tailgate-announcement-saturday/

https://mobile.twitter.com/NewMexicoUTD/status/1419093882751524869



Here's video of the announcement:

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1rmxPzkdkyZGN