Albuquerque Development

[BigTymeABQ]

ABQ bus rapid transit construction may begin late 2015

By Chris McKee
KRQE News 13

The city’s latest update on a proposed bus rapid transit project shows just how quickly some construction related to the project could happen along Central Avenue, and it may be much faster than you think.

The city’s bus system, ABQ Ride is now circulating a new pamphlet on the “Albuquerque Rapid Transit” (ART) project that shows a new timeline for construction. The timeline calls for some light construction on the project to begin by the end of 2015.

It’s unclear where exactly that work will take place, but it will likely make Nob Hill’s main drag look a lot different with a potential for cones, ripped up streets and sidewalks.

“We’d like to start utilities relocation efforts later this year,” said Bruce Rizzieri, director of ABQ Ride.

According to Rizzieri, the city wants to start moving pipes, conduit and other utitiles along Central by November 2015. That work could happen anywhere along the 13-mile stretch of Central where ABQRide wants to build Albuquerque Rapid Transit between Tramway Boulevard to the east and 98th Street to the west. The work would prep the ground for new dedicated bus lanes and bus stations.

“That’s always a time consuming part of any type of road project,” said Rizzieri.

While the city hasn’t secured most of the estimated $150 million needed to building the project, planners are operating on a new timeline that calls for final design to wrap up by February 2016, and full blown construction to begin by May 2016. 

[BigTymeABQ]

UNM Regents make major decision on Innovate ABQ's future

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

On Monday morning, the University of New Mexico Regents unanimously approved the next major step for Innovate ABQ that will set the stage for the seven-acre project Downtown.
The regents met in the UNM student union building to accommodate a large crowd interested in design firm Perkins+Will's development framework for the Innovation District and Innovate ABQ. The approval now sets the stage for UNM to take the next steps with developers, UNM President Bob Frank said.
"Perkins+Will is saying to the board, 'We have a plan for not just the seven acres, but the district,'" Frank explained. "It's more of a living blueprint. What we want to say to developers is we want your ideas and come to us."
The idea, he said, is to move forward with a framework that will guide the site's future but not set it in stone.
"We're using the term 'development framework' instead of 'master plan' because 'master plan' sounds so static," Lisa Kuuttila, the CEO of STC.UNM, said. "It's going to evolve."
In his remarks, Frank said Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales invited Perkins+Will to his city to explore adding a second Innovate center there.
"As you can see," Frank told the regents, "the idea is spreading."
The regents heard presentations from several people, including David Green, who is a principal at Perkins+Will. Green said his firm worked with the UNM School of Architecture and Planning, and many of the ideas in the plan came from students. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Innovate ABQ project could take 10 to 20 years to complete

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

On Monday morning, the University of New Mexico regents took the biggest step to making Innovate ABQ a reality since the school agreed to purchase a seven-acre site Downtown last year. See the accompanying slideshow for a peek at the project renderings.
Though the approval means the project is "off to the races," according to UNM President Bob Frank, it's not that easy. Instead, the framework the regents approved is for a 10- to 20-year project that will cost between $50 and $150 million and could be as large as 850,000 square feet in several buildings spread across four city blocks. It will also rely heavily on commercial partners to build about two dozen buildings that would have more combined space than the Albuquerque Convention Center.
"This is driven by commercial interests, that's important," said David Green, a principal at Perkins+Will, which is the design firm that wrote the plan for the development. "Much could be done in 10 years."

[BigTymeABQ]

Silver Moon expects 95% occupancy by May, eatery on the way


Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Downtown Albuquerque's newest apartment complex — Silver Moon Lodges — opened last summer and is on its way to being almost fully occupied.
The $13.5 million public-private mixed-income development was tabbed as an important project to bring further density to the Downtown corridor, something stakeholders say is greatly needed. Silver Moon, located at 901 Park Ave. SW at 10th Street and Central Avenue, was a collaboration that was jump-started by a Bernalillo County bond package. It was under construction for about two-years, headed up by developer DBG Properties.
Silver Moon came on the heels of another mixed-income apartment project — the $16.2 million Casitas de Colores — at 215 Lead Ave. SW. The site is just west of the Silver Gardens development at Second Street and Silver Avenue SW. 

[BigTymeABQ]

New condos planned for the heart of Nob Hill

 

By Richard Metcalf

Journal Staff Writer

 

 

A three-story, 36-condo building to be called The Carlisle with parking and some retail is expected to break ground in the next 35-40 days at the southeast corner of Central and Carlisle SE in the center of Nob Hill.

Veteran Albuquerque builder and developer Kenny Hinkes, who described the building’s architectural style as “New Orleans meets Hollywood,” said the $8.2 million construction project is aimed primarily at baby boomers who want to “move down in size without moving down in quality.”

The lot at 3600 Central SE was formerly occupied by a car wash that was converted to shop space with a sloped parking lot. After the current tenant, Ascension Body Modification, relocates April 1 to 1916 Central SE, it will be leveled to create what’s often called a garden level, built into the hillside, that will have a 43-space parking structure and 2,000 square feet of retail space.

The upper two stories will have 38,000 square feet of residential condos built in a U shape around a garden courtyard. Although square footages are not yet available, the condos will all be two bedroom/two bath with balconies or patios and separate storage. The building will have a common rooftop patio for residents.

The Carlisle will be just downhill and north of Immanuel Presbyterian Church at 114 Carlisle SE, which was consulted by Hinkes early in his planning process.

“We’re all for it,” said David Cameron, Immanuel’s pastor. “We were hoping something good would happen at that corner. The project will build residential density and create more foot traffic in the neighborhood.”

Hinkes has developed both commercial and residential condominiums in Albuquerque, including the three-story, 26-unit residential condo building at 110 Richmond SE, less than a half-mile west of The Carlisle.

Edited March 27, 2015 by BigTymeABQ

[BigTymeABQ]

Marble Development selected for new project near the Pit

By Jessica Dyer
Journal Staff Writer

Officials will turn to a couple of high-profile New Mexico companies to kickstart the planned “sports and entertainment district” on University of New Mexico property near the football stadium and the Pit.

The Lobo Development Corp. board on Wednesday selected Marble Development — described as a partnership between Santa Fe Dining and Marble Brewery — to develop the site immediately west of University Stadium.

Marble Development was one of five groups that submitted proposals for the property at the southeast corner of the Avenida Cesar Chavez/University Boulevard intersection. The site is now a parking lot.

Marble’s current plan would take up about 1.4 acres of a parking lot estimated at 7 acres.

The plan includes a restaurant, taproom and coffee shop under one roof. The new 13,000-square-foot building would also have a stage, according to Soren Peters of Marble Development. He said Santa Fe Dining — parent company to a number of Albuquerque and Santa Fe eateries including Chama River Brewing Co., Blue Corn Cafe and Rio Chama — will spearhead the food component, while Marble will focus on the craft beer element. 

[BigTymeABQ]

‘Code Purple’

By Mike Bush
Journal Staff Writer

University of New Mexico health care and administrative officials will soon seek state approval to build a state-of-the-art replacement facility for the flagship but aging and overcrowded university hospital on Lomas Boulevard.

UNM Health Sciences Center Chancellor Paul Roth painted a grim picture of overcrowded conditions at the existing facility to his board of directors Wednesday afternoon. The chief problem at the only hospital of its scope and capabilities in New Mexico is capacity, he said.

Roth described a hospital that was at maximum occupancy – or “Code Purple” – 90 percent of the time last year, turning away hundreds of patients from other hospitals around the state and keeping patients in the emergency department for up to three days because there were no beds available in regular wards.

The hospital has 308 adult beds, and “that’s where the crunch is,” Roth told an audience of about two-dozen administrators and members of the UNM Board of Regents.

At similarly situated hospitals nationwide, the average occupancy rate is about 72 percent, he said. That percentage, at UNMH, would equate to 222 beds. Instead, the occupancy rate at UNMH is often as high as 90 percent. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Exclusive: ABQ could support a major league sports team. No, really.

Rachel Sams
Editor-in-Chief-
Albuquerque Business First

The Duke City area has the economic capacity to support a major league sports team, according to a new analysis from Albuquerque Business First's parent company, American City Business Journals.
ACBJ analyzed 83 markets in the United States and Canada to determine if they have the financial ability to support new teams in baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer. The analysis found that the Albuquerque/Santa Fe/Las Vegas, N.M. metro area has the economic capacity to support a Major League Soccer team. ACBJ's analysis rated Albuquerque's economic capacity to support an NFL, NBA or NHL team as borderline (with the likelihood of being able to support an NBA team highest), and found that the city could not support a Major League Baseball team.
Albuquerque has long shown love to its minor league sports. The Albuquerque Isotopes, recently made a Colorado Rockies minor league affiliate, frequently rank as one of the highest-revenue-generating teams in minor-league baseball. And a developmental soccer league launched the ABQ Sol team last year. But major league sports would be a new frontier, from the economic costs and returns to the recreation options for Duke City residents. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Bernalillo County wants to consolidates, considers building purchase

By Katherine Mozzone
KRQE News 13

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – Bernalillo County is taking another look at a piece of prime real estate up for sale. Commissioners say they could use the building to consolidate their operations and lower costs.

Alvarado Square would offer the county more than 280,000 square feet of space. The county first looked at the property back in 2013, but negotiations fell through. Now, the owners have dropped the asking price by more than $5 million.

Commissioners told KRQE News 13 the county has been looking for a building in which they could fit their operations for at least 10 years now. Alvarado Square looked like a good buy several years ago and the county had money but there were issues, like parking. Now, owners have dropped the asking price from $11.1 million to $6 million.

However, the building still needs work- to the tune of close to $15 million and that doesn’t include $650,000 dollars for parking. Yet, proponents of the purchase say the $21 million price tag isn’t much more than it would cost to renovate the buildings the county already owns- like 415 Tijeras and the Rio Grande Building.

Plus, they say with the sale of those buildings, they could offset the cost of Alvarado Square, dropping it even lower than the original asking price.

KRQE News 13 spoke to Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins who said the purchase makes sense. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Winrock to be destination to shop, live, work, developer says

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —The next phase of construction is scheduled to start this week at Winrock Town Center.

The pillars came down in January and now the work will begin on a two-level underground parking garage that will accommodate retailers Nordstrom Rack and DSW.

The project also includes renovations for a new Sports Authority.

“Winrock is not just going to be another mall, it's actually a destination,” said Darin Sand, vice president of development for Goodman Realty Group, the developer backing the project.

Sand said this next phase is just the start of plans for a bigger, better Winrock, which would not only be a place to shop, but eventually a place to live and work.

“We'll have residential units on site – over 500, have office space, a hotel, a wellness center,” Sand said.

The $120 million expansion will bring more than 1,000 construction jobs to the area over the next few months, he said.

“This is a significant component to the economic landscape in Albuquerque,” he said.

This phase of construction is expected to take about a year.

[BigTymeABQ]

Winrock Construction Cam

[BigTymeABQ]

Hospital high-rise?

By Mike Bush
Journal Staff Writer

Steve McKernan, CEO of UNM Hospitals, and Dr. Michael Richards, the executive physician-in-chief of the UNM Health System, said the new facility most likely would be a high-rise building, which is more practical than a one- or two-level facility that spreads over a wide area.

Transporting patients is easier and less time-consuming if elevators can replace long hallways, they said. Plus, it would use less land. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Patel thinks Albuquerque is ready for Major League Soccer, Downtown venue

 

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque entrepreneur Ron Patel says soccer is his No. 1 passion. That's an advantage for someone that wants to bring a Major League Soccer team to a city that doesn’t have one — like Albuquerque.
The specter of such a venture was renewed last week when an analysis from Albuquerque Business First’s parent company, American City Business Journals, said the Albuquerque-area has the economic capacity to support a major league sports team— most viable was soccer.
Patel is president of the two-year-old Albuquerque Sol F.C. minor league soccer team, which plays in the Mountain Division of the 65-team Premier Developmental League of the United Soccer League. He’s the author of “That’s When it Hit Me — How to Take an Idea from a Cocktail Napkin to Reality,” and is the managing partner of his Delivered Dish business. We talked with Patel about what it would take for Albuquerque to land Major League Soccer. 

[BigTymeABQ]

New Innovate ABQ RFP sets a tight deadline to choose a developer

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

On Friday, the University of New Mexico released its long-awaited request for proposals for the Innovate ABQ site.
The RFP is the next step in the process to building a business incubation site on seven acres at the edge of Downtown. The site has been imagined as an economic development center that brings together entrepreneurs, artists, engineers, developers and more to create companies and ideas.
The RFP is looking for a developer to work within the framework that the UNM regents approved last month. The school is looking to forge a long-term public-private partnership with a developer that offers a variety of services, from real estate development to marketing and financing. The developer is expected to construct the laboratory, incubation, living and retail spaces envisioned at the site.

 

 

[BigTymeABQ]

Sawmill emerging as ‘something unlike what Albuquerque has seen’

Damon Scott
Managing Editor-
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque’s Sawmill District is seeing a lot of activity and will see more projects come online very soon.
The former brownfield site and areas adjacent to it have been feeding off its northern border with the Old Town corridor up to the south side of I-40 along Rio Grande Boulevard. The area has seen new apartments and town homes, an instantly popular brewpub in Ponderosa Brewing Co. and is the place where ACE Leadership High School built new digs. Range Cafe owner Matt DiGregory said he’ll be opening a fourth location nearby too.
Brett Hills, a director with NAI Maestas & Ward, has been very active in the area, working with hotelier and entrepreneur Jim Long on some of his projects. Long is in the midst of bringing another hotel to the area — the 118-room Hotel Chaco Albuquerque — which will be built near his flagship Heritage Hotels & Resorts property Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town. Long is also involved in other area projects, including a Sawmill Market that would be north of Hotel Chaco on Bellamah Avenue and 19th Street. This week the Bernalillo County Commission approved about $191,000 in yearly tax breaks for both Hotel Chaco and the Sawmill Market. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Bregman: New Albuquerque sports arena is still answer to attract a team

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Sure, Albuquerque can support a professional sports team, says Sam Bregman, a local attorney and former owner of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds D-League basketball team. But a new arena would help a lot too.
An analysis from Albuquerque Business First's parent company, American City Business Journals, created a lot of buzz recently because it said that the Albuquerque-area has the economic capacity to support a major league sports team — maybe soccer, maybe another sport.
And Bregman knows Albuquerque is largely a basketball town. For five years his team, which was part of the NBA’s developmental league, averaged between 1,500 and 2,500 fans a game. The team supported itself, fans and players had a good time, and it was successful enough that the Cleveland Cavaliers bought it from Bregman in 2011.
Though it made sense for him to sell the team in 2011, it wouldn’t have made sense if there had been a good venue here for the team, he said. The Thunderbirds played at Tingley Coliseum, a 60-year-old, almost 10,000 seat arena that’s used for monster truck shows and rodeos. Bregman eventually moved the team to the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, a newer facility. 

[richyb83]

That Bregman name is very familiar down here in Baton Rouge LA ...his son Alex; a Shortstop.... is one of the Best Players in College Baseball at LSU! Seeing a new sports team possibly in Albuquerque will be interesting!   Impressive Rio Rancho boast an arena that size! 

 

Thanks for all of the updates BigTymeABQ  Where do I begin!  Plenty of promising projects set to come on-line...Innovative ABQ looks like a game-changer for the area! Those new condo's should fit nicely at that location in Nob Hill......hope the Sports & Entertainment District is a big success...the Saw Mill District sounds pretty cool too

[BigTymeABQ]

That Bregman name is very familiar down here in Baton Rouge LA ...his son Alex; a Shortstop.... is one of the Best Players in College Baseball at LSU! Seeing a new sports team possibly in Albuquerque will be interesting!   Impressive Rio Rancho boast an arena that size! 

 

Thanks for all of the updates BigTymeABQ  Where do I begin!  Plenty of promising projects set to come on-line...Innovative ABQ looks like a game-changer for the area! Those new condo's should fit nicely at that location in Nob Hill......hope the Sports & Entertainment District is a big success...the Saw Mill District sounds pretty cool too

Yeah, Alex Bregman is one heck of a ball player.I wish he would have stayed home to play ball. Our loss is LSU's gain. Things here in the ABQ area seem to be moving in the right direction. I'm just waiting anxiously to post on more big announcements. Thanks for reading my posts.

Edited May 4, 2015 by BigTymeABQ

[BigTymeABQ]

Winrock remake has millennials in mind

By Jessica Dyer
Journal Staff Writer

First things first: Gary Goodman isn’t just building a shopping mall.
Yes, the major earth-moving underway now at Winrock Town Center will yield the state’s first Nordstrom Rack and DSW, other still-unannounced retailers and a two-level underground parking garage. When fully developed, Winrock will comprise an estimated 1.5 million square feet of retail – nearly three times what it had when the original Winrock opened to great fanfare more than 50 years ago.

But Goodman – whose Goodman Realty Group is behind Winrock’s current renaissance – never set out to build a run-of-the-mill shopping center. He has a vision for a mixed-use development unlike anything the city has seen. As evidence, consider the fact that he has a farmer on the payroll.

That’s right. A farmer.

“We just harvested about 3,000 garlic bulbs,” Goodman said proudly of the plants used as part of a new landscaping strategy at the 83-acre Uptown property.

While the 16-screen Regal Cinemas multiplex might stand as one of the flashiest additions to date in Winrock’s ongoing redevelopment, it’s the peach, apple, and other fruit and nut trees surrounding the theater that truly speak to Goodman’s larger goals for the project. More than 200 such trees already have been planted around the cinema and the new Dave & Buster’s. Their fruit will ultimately stock Winrock’s planned on-site farm store – just one component of what Goodman calls a “uniquely 21st century” development. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Downtown's grocery store to have restaurant and retail neighbors

Stephanie Guzman
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Downtown's mixed-use Imperial building — which will bring the corridor its first grocery store in decades — will have some food-and-retail-focused retail neighbors.
The 12,000-square-foot ground floor Silver Street Market grocer is under construction now and is set to open in the first quarter of next year. And David Silverman of Geltmore LLC, who is in charge of the grocer and retail spaces, said momentum is building for additional tenants to locate near Silver Street Market.
Those tenants include a 3,500-square-foot restaurant on the corner of Silver Avenue and Third Street, and several other storefronts that will round out the 23,000-square-foot bottom floor, anchored by the grocery store. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Ruth’s Chris Steak House coming to Albuquerque

By Jessica Dyer
Journal Staff Writer

A high-end restaurant chain is getting ready to serve its signature sizzling steaks in the Duke City.

Ruth’s Chris Steak House has signed a lease for space in Albuquerque and plans to open its first Duke City restaurant by late 2015, according to the company’s recent financial report.

Ruth’s Chris will take over 9,800 square feet in the Shops at Park Square on Indian School NE, near Louisiana, a space last occupied by Robert R. Bailey Clothiers.

Ruth’s Chris, headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., has about 140 restaurants around the world. The chain originated in 1965 in New Orleans, according to the company’s website, “when Ruth Fertel mortgaged her home for $22,000 to purchase the ‘Chris Steak House.'”

While prices vary by location, a look at the dinner menu for the Boise restaurant (which opened last year) shows steaks — prepared in an 1,800-degree oven and served on a 500-degree plate — start at $38 for an 8-ounce filet. An order of garlic mashed potatoes runs $8.50. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Civic Plaza prepares for its Downtown 'intervention'

Dan Mayfield
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque might not immediately be thought of as a city that follows certain trends, especially in design. But in the late 1970s, the Duke City was as eager as every other city to be "modern," and with that came a spate of brutalist architecture — the original Convention Center, City Hall, several buildings at the University of New Mexico and more — were all designed around big, foreboding, gray blocks of unwelcome concrete.

So was Civic Plaza.
"It was a fad, and we jumped on it. Hardcore," said Tim Trujillo an urban planner and designer with Dekker/Perich/Sabatini. Trujillo, who is also with Downtown ABQ MainStreet, Urban ABQ and other pro-Downtown groups, see Civic Plaza is seen as an opportunity that has fallen short — a largely unused piece of real estate in the middle of Downtown that has the potential to spur businesses and be welcoming to visitors and nearby residents.

But, short of an entire redo of its look and structure, stakeholders are "trying to do an intervention," Trujillo said.

That aim that got a big boost recently — a new $100,000 grant from Southwest Airlines and the Project for Public Spaces. MainStreet is spearheading the efforts. It has the potential to change Civic Plaza from a brutal, hot, unfriendly concrete prairie into a modern, welcoming, friendly space, they say. The grant is to last three years and pay for events and facilities on the plaza.

"The goal is to make Downtown more attractive," said Lola Bird, MainStreet's executive director. "You have to make it attractive and add color." Trujillo agrees: "We're on the right track. "You have to make it so exciting that you will walk six blocks to see it." 

[BigTymeABQ]

Construction of the Imperial Building in downtown Albuquerque.

[BigTymeABQ]

Albuquerque Rolls Out Bike Share Project on Bike to Work Day!

Edited May 13, 2015 by BigTymeABQ

[BigTymeABQ]

Could a parking district be the answer to Downtown's parking woes?

Dan Mayfield
Albuquerque Business First

It’s no secret that some visitors and workers coming Downtown dread finding convenient parking. Street parking can be scarce. Parking garages can be expensive.
But, David Silverman, the Geltmore Group developer behind the forthcoming Downtown grocery store at the Imperial Building, has an idea that could improve the turnover of premium spaces, make parking easier to find, and also increase the value of land and businesses — and maybe not just for Downtown. He’s proposing a parking benefit district (PBD) — a district that uses dynamic pricing techniques and modern technology to make money for an area.

Silverman’s idea, which would start with Downtown, is in the early stages. He’s in the midst of trying to find other stakeholders that would support his idea.

“Here, people just have a perception that there is no parking because we manage and market our supply so poorly,” Silverman said. “There are more parking spaces in Downtown than at Cottonwood Mall. It floors you. They’re just not being used.”
A PBD uses market-based pricing to sell parking spaces. A valuable space, one in front of a business many want to go to, could be worth $5 an hour, while those far off could be worth just 25 cents an hour. Because the spaces could be controlled with new technology like a parking app or with a smart kiosk, they could be tuned to meet daily surges too. Spaces outside the Sunshine Theater during a popular concert at night, for example, could be priced much higher than those down the street or in a city-owned garage.