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Posted Oct 16, 2023, 4:32 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 758
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The Albuquerque Journal has a story about UNM's efforts to redevelop the South Campus. It looks at how the new TIDD may be the spark to get the ball rolling, similar to how Mesa del Sol has taken off recently after its TIDD was implemented. The story mentions the new Raising Cane's location that will be built along Gibson Boulevard, but the more exciting prospect is that they are apparently trying to snag a new Target location for the area.
https://www.abqjournal.com/business/...698982e13.html
Quote:
The Lobos just won a Saturday evening football game against a conference opponent, and the raucous crowd pours out of the stadium and wants to keep the celebration going.
Where do they go?
Currently, much of the land surrounding the stadium is broken up into empty dirt lots owned by University of New Mexico. But UNM and city officials hope that in the coming years, the area surrounding the stadiums and the university’s Science and Technology Park will become a vibrant hub for food, retail, housing and other developments.
After years of planning and pitching ideas, there has been recent activity on UNM’s South Campus. UNM officials said that an out-of-state commercial real estate firm has bought a parcel of land and plans to open a popular chicken restaurant at the site. And other developers have expressed interest.
The campus, which encompasses 337 acres and straddles University from Basehart to Gibson, in the coming years is expected to see massive development. The investment required to do so will be incentivized after the area was formed into a Tax Increment Development District, or TIDD, which took years to earn complete approval.
Some moves have already been made in the months following the TIDD’s latest approval from the Legislature, the final step in what has been a long, drawn-out process that required support from the state, county and city officials. And the development of this area has officials excited about what can come out of this unique district.
“This is an excellent example of people in New Mexico coming together to work to solve a problem and to make improvements,” said Teresa Costantinidis, UNM’s executive vice president for finance and administration. “New Mexicans deserve a great place, and that’s what we want to build.”
An overview
Tax Increment Development Districts, also referred to sometimes as tax increment financing, are a rather new concept in economic development, said David S. Campbell, the new executive director for Lobo Development Corp. who is charged with bringing university officials’ vision into reality.
Campbell, who was hired in September, formerly served as the CEO of Mesa del Sol, an area in south Albuquerque that is seeing large-scale development after experiencing years of stagnancy. Like the South Campus TIDD, Mesa del Sol is also an established tax increment development district, a means of incentivizing growth by giving developers a share of future tax revenue for their investment into public infrastructure.
That’s exactly the case for UNM’s TIDD, which allocates up to 75% of incremental gross receipts and property taxes from the state, city and county for public infrastructure projects such as sewage lines, roads and lighting.
Since UNM owns the majority of the land, its private development arm and master developer of the TIDD, Lobo Development Corp., can either sell or lease that land to other developers who are looking to bring new projects to the area.
And UNM already has the land sectioned out for certain developments. In the land on Avenida Cesar Chavez and University, officials have planned a combined 200,000 square feet for restaurants and retail in its Science and Technology Park and what they call Lobo Village Retail and Entertainment. There is also, according to documents outlining the district, room in that area for a 105,000-square-foot hotel with roughly 900 parking spaces.
South of the arenas on University stretching toward Gibson is what officials are calling Gibson Town Center, 439,000 square feet of which is also slated for shopping and restaurants. In that area, too, is room for potential housing development. Officials said creating more housing is a priority to address Albuquerque’s ongoing housing shortage.
The addition of those offerings might also have added benefits for UNM athletics and its fans, said Eddie Nuñez, UNM’s athletic director and a board member for Lobo Development Corp. Nuñez said other universities — such as Arizona State, Florida and Louisiana State University — have bustling entertainment hubs near their arenas or campuses.
He said improving the fan experience on gameday by offering nearby entertainment options could boost ticket sales and revenue for UNM sports teams.
“What it’s going to do is going to improve the whole overall experience,” Nuñez said. “I think there’s a residual impact that is attributed to improving this area from the overall experience, the lighting, the walkways.”
Early movement
Lobo Development Corp. has already seen early movement in its mission of accomplishing its goal. Last month, it signed an agreement with Illinois-based Tucker Development Corp. for the transfer of a 2-acre parcel near an Albuquerque Fire Rescue station on Gibson Boulevard.
The land is expected to be the site of a Raising Cane’s, a fast-food restaurant that specializes in chicken tenders. Two Raising Cane’s have opened in Albuquerque this year and have proved popular among locals, with long lines still common months after their openings.
Both Raising Cane’s and Tucker Development Corp. were unavailable for comment.
But Campbell said the parcel, the first in many that will be sold or leased over the 25-year life span of the TIDD, was sold to the Illinois developer for $1.5 million.
There have also been talks between officials and commercial brokers for a Target in the district, Costantinidis said, which is still under consideration.
Though it is only a small portion of the development that UNM officials hope to see in the district, Raising Cane’s has proven to be a big win for Lobo Development Corp. Corporation officials expect it be the first of many such announcements — such as a themed sports bar.
“To see (Raising Cane’s) coming into the area, that’s exciting,” Nuñez said. “This is one of those kinds of businesses that are going to attract others.”
A unique district and its economic impact
UNM’s TIDD is one of just roughly a dozen in the state. The district is unique because it is the first such district that is a “public-public partnership,” said Costantinidis.
By that, Costantinidis points to the university’s public stature and its partnership with the state, city and county in creating the district. Typically, TIDDs are between a private entity that owns land and is seeking tax increment financing to incentivize growth in the area.
Since the district is the first such “public-public” partnership, she said UNM is serving as a model for future TIDDs. New Mexico State University is exploring similar options with the land it owns, she said.
“The State Board of Finance, who has been very supportive of this TIDD, also wants to monitor it to see if it’s a model for future TIDDs,” she said. “So we are reporting regularly to the state on how it’s going.”
But the TIDD, she said, has direct benefits for economic development and job creation in the area, bringing needed necessities to the area for surrounding neighborhoods but also for future residents that move into and around the district.
Estimates for the TIDD predict it will create more than 4,000 jobs with $4.2 billion in total salaries, and more than $200 million in public infrastructure creation and improvement, which includes roads, sidewalks, utilities, plazas, parks, trails and landscaping. The TIDD is also expected to provide a $1.1 billion net economic benefit to the state.
But the TIDD also has room for improvements in the Science and Technology Park, which Bernalillo County Economic Development Director Marcos Gonzales said can incentivize new startups and tech-oriented companies to move into the area in hopes of partnering with UNM, Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base and the Air Force Research Lab.
“Look at the space industry expanding with that big grant that the Space Valley Coalition is going after — it’d be a great opportunity to see some of those components locate there because of the proximity to (Kirtland Air Force Base) proximity to the airport and then to the university as well with having the talent pool there,” Gonzales said.
While the district is in its very early stages, officials involved in the project paint said the area in the future will look much different than what it is today. In the years to come, that vision will soon become reality.
“My hope is that this is a vibrant, bustling, engaging, exciting place to be,” Costantinidis said. “And if we hadn’t just created the TIDD, and we didn’t have a partnership between the city and the county and the state and the university, it might look the same as it does now and did 20 years ago.”
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