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New apartments to rise in the city’s Sawmill area

By Richard Metcalf
Journal Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 2:59 pm
%7Boption%7D19893757594_565e7337dc_c.jpgsawmill by mgs11, on Flickr

Construction is expected to begin as early as next week on the 57-unit Madeira Crossing apartments in what has been one of the metro’s biggest ongoing infill developments.

The latest joint venture between Portland, Ore.-based PacifiCap Properties Corp. and the Sawmill Community Land Trust, Madeira Crossing will be a mix of 34 market-rate and 23 income-restricted apartments in the Sawmill area just north of Old Town.

The city building permit gives a construction cost of $5.5 million for the 68,500-square-foot building. The units are mostly two and three bedroom.

“When these 57 units are completed, we’ll have more than 200 units there,” PacifiCap’s Chad Rennaker told the Journal. “It continues to surprise me how well these units absorb. The income-restricted properties are at full occupancy all the time. The market-rate properties have exceeded expecations.”

Located at 1741 Bellamah NW, Madeira Crossing is across from The Artisan, a pair of buildings completed in 2011 with commercial space on the ground floor and 60 apartments on the upper two floors. The Artisan was also a joint venture between the land trust and PacifiCap. 

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City to negotiate with developer for Downtown parcel

By Jessica Dyer
Journal Staff Writer

Bowling Downtown?

It could happen.

The city’s Development Commission on Thursday voted to pursue negotiations with developer One Central Operating Associates, LLC for a project on city-owned land at 1st and Central, a space the city wants to turn into an entertainment hub.

One Central’s proposal calls for a $38.5 million mixed-use project on the 1.75-acre site that would include 39,000 square feet of commercial space, an additional four stories of apartments totaling 76 units and a four-level parking garage with more than 400 spaces.

Jerry Mosher, one of the partners in One Central, said the commercial space could accommodate up to 10 businesses and that his team already has begun discussions with several potential tenants, including a bowling alley operator, multiple restaurants, a brewery and a juice bar.

Many details must still be ironed out, since the proposed financing for the project includes the city’s purchase of the project’s parking garage for $17 million and possible incentives such as a gross-receipts tax abatement for construction costs.

While some commissioners raised questions about the many moving parts associated with the project, they voted that the city’s metropolitan redevelopment agency begin negotiations with One Central for development of the parcel in the hopes that process would yield more clarity.

One Central’s project was the only proposal the commission heard for the land. Only two groups submitted projects in response to the city’s 2014 request for proposals for the land, and city staff said an ad hoc committee determined only One Central’s met the standards. 

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Mayor picked bowling over casino for Albuquerque’s downtown
Rejected proposal called for tribal casino, 12,000 seat arena


By Alex Goldsmith
KRQE News 13

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – The intersection of 1st Street and Central Avenue is prime real estate in Albuquerque, sitting at the gateway to downtown Albuquerque.

Although a transportation hub and movie theater occupy the south side of Central right now, the north side of Central is mostly parking lots. As part of efforts to revitalize the city’s downtown, city hall asked for ideas.

They got two very different proposals.

One submitted by One Central Operating Associates LLC, called for a development centered around an upscale bowling lounge. There would be office space and apartments along with a parking garage. Estimates in that proposal were it would create 200 construction jobs and 120 permanent jobs.

While the mayor’s office ultimately chose One Central’s idea, there was another proposal on the table that Mayor Richard J. Berry’s Chief of Staff Gilbert Montaño admits would’ve been a “game changer.”

That plan, submitted by Geltmore LLC and obtained by KRQE News 13, called for building a 12,000 seat multi-purpose arena and a tribal-owned casino hotel in the area of downtown between the railroad tracks, Central, 2nd Street and Tijeras Avenue. 

Rendering of One Central Downtown Entertainment District
%7Boption%7D20901907899_1d4887c189_c.jpgOne Central pic by sandovalmgs11, on Flickr 

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Big development plans advancing near Central Avenue's Presbyterian Hospital

Stephanie Guzman
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

Titan Development is moving forward on the redevelopment of nearly 10-acres near Presbyterian Hospital, north of Central Avenue and east of I-25.
Titan officials said the project is in its early conceptual phases, but the company is proposing a mixed-use project with multifamily housing, retail and a hotel. Titan emphasized the proposed project and its uses are not yet set in stone.

The five city blocks, save for a couple of older buildings and some residences, have been vacant for many years.
Ben Spencer, CEO of Titan, said Presbyterian acquired the property about 20 years ago in anticipation of using the land for additional hospital uses. Presbyterian, with its growing hospital in Rio Rancho — the Presbyterian Rust Medical Center — later determined the land could be used differently.
"That's when they decided to find a development partner to create uses that are beneficial to their constituents, being their employees and patients' families," Spencer said.
Titan is also partnering with Steve Maestas' company Maestas Development Group, which will work on the retail portion of the project. 

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Titan CEO answers the 'why now?' of new Central Avenue project near UNM

Stephanie Guzman
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

When Dale Dekker of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini recently spoke about redevelopment already finding momentum along Central Avenue due to the forthcoming Innovate ABQ and Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) initiatives, he could've been talking about this one — a 10-acre project on five city blocks along Central across from Presbyterian Hospital.
Titan Development, along with partners Presbyterian and Maestas Development Group, are proposing a mixed-use development of multifamily residences, retail and a hotel.

It's a project that's been mulled over for years, so when asked 'why now?,' Titan CEO Ben Spencer said, "ART."

"We're very supportive of ART. This project is not contingent upon the opening of ART. But we think [ART will] be a tremendous benefit to this project and we think it will spur more development along the corridor," Spencer said.
Other supporters of Albuquerque Rapid Transit agree with Spencer. They say investment in a walkable, public transit-oriented street will spur more development and redevelopment along the corridor. 

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Former Pulse site to become commercial development

By Richard Metcalf
Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal

Pioneering Nob Hill developer Rick Goldman is changing his playbook for redeveloping the half-acre lot at 4100 Central SE, once home to the Pulse Nightclub, for commercial uses rather than housing.

“We’ll bring something to market that has not been seen there before, something that compliments growth in that area of Nob Hill,” he told the Journal. “The area doesn’t need a strip center.”

Plans for the bulldozed site are still in the works with the Albuquerque architectural firm Environmental Dynamics Inc., Goldman said, and there’s no timeline for breaking ground.

“We wouldn’t have taken the building down if we weren’t going to move forward with the next phase of a commercial project,” he said.

Typical commercial uses are restaurants, retail shops and offices, although Goldman would not be specific. A mixed-use building in the classic new urbanist style of commercial space on the ground floor and apartments or condos on the upper floors is not being contemplated, he said.

Beginning in the mid 2000s with the Aliso Townhomes next to Morningside Park a couple blocks away, Chicago-based Goldman has built about 100 housing units in East Nob Hill, which is bisected by Central Avenue and extends from Carlisle east to Washington. 
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Revitalizing ABQ’s ‘spine’

By Richard Metcalf
Journal Staff Writer
Monday, October 12th, 2015 at 12:02am

The decision to tear down the Alvarado Hotel, an architectural gem in the California Mission Revival style in Downtown Albuquerque, was made in the normal course of business by owner Santa Fe Railway.

The historic hotel, built in 1902 and expanded in 1926, was still in operation on a lease basis by the fading Fred Harvey Inc. when the decision was made in September 1969. Four months later, demolition began.

“The teardown of the Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque has truly haunted New Mexico,” said architect Barbara Felix, who was involved in recent historic preservation work at Santa Fe’s La Fonda on the Plaza. “We lost something that was very important.”

Tearing down the old through government condemnation and building new was the mantra of the “urban renewal” movement of the time, Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry said. 

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Next marker for proposed Central Avenue-Presbyterian development is January

Stephanie Guzman
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

Titan Development announced last month its plans to redevelop nearly 10-acres along Central Avenue, near to Presbyterian Hospital.
Kurt Browning, chief development officer and partner with Albuquerque-based Titan, said Friday that the project is advancing well. Plans are still conceptual, however, with new renderings and site plans produced each week, he said.

Browning says the development team, which includes Maestas Development Group, is aiming to submit plans to the city in January, when he said nearby residents will get a better idea of the site's layout. Currently, civil engineering firm Bohannan Huston and design firm Dekker/Perich/Sabatini are helping the development team better understand the site's infrastructure and what concepts it would support.

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Berry proposes $23.5 million in Downtown projects, including retractable arena

Blake Driver
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

Downtown Albuquerque was in the spotlight in a big way Friday — a $23.5 million spotlight.
Mayor Richard Berry announced proposed plans for three projects in the corridor — at the Convention Center, Civic Plaza, and for a parking structure at the impending Entertainment District. The price of the projects would be generated from what Berry said has been a growth in revenue from the lodgers' tax. It's a slew of pieces that are part of an overall plan to turn Downtown into a "centralized place for both locals and visitors to gather."

"We're keeping it us. We're making this us. This is what we look like. This is what we feel like. That's what we did with the Convention Center the first time," Berry said at a press conference at the Albuquerque Convention Center. 

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Molina’s Downtown digs to get $12 million in upgrades

By Richard Metcalf
Journal Staff Writer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Molina Healthcare’s consolidation of back-office operations Downtown, enabled by a California investment firm’s purchase of a seven-story office building, was one of three deals whose back stories were described Monday at a luncheon meeting of NAIOP, the commercial real-estate development group.

Broadly hailed as a major stepping stone in Downtown’s revitalization, Molina’s consolidation from two offices in the North I-25 submarket brought about 800 workers to 400 Tijeras NW, a 420,589-square-foot office building long associated with telephone giant US West, successor Qwest and now CenturyLink.

Once a hive of activity housing 1,000 workers and what is believed to have been New Mexico’s first call center, CenturyLink’s presence had shrunk to about one-third of the building due to technology and a changing business model, said Tom Jenkins of commercial real-estate services firm CBRE.
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Albuquerque’s architectural peaks

By Charles D. Brunt
Journal Staff Writer

a01_jd_28nov_buildings-820x263.jpg

Although you seldom hear the words “Albuquerque” and “skyscraper” in the same sentence, you may have wondered about the few tall buildings that create the Duke City’s skyline and, for nearly three decades, epitomized the city’s evolution from large town to small city.

Built from the early 1960s to 1990, the city’s five tallest buildings remain integral parts of Albuquerque commerce. But they each have histories – and even some mysteries – that few city residents know.

But first, some perspective: If you stacked all five of Albuquerque’s tallest buildings on top of one another, they would total 1,293 feet – just 43 feet taller than New York City’s Empire State Building – the fifth-tallest building in the United States with a roof-level height of 1,250 feet.

The tallest building in the U.S. is New York City’s One World Trade Center, at 1,776 feet.

The world’s tallest building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at 2,717 feet.

Albuquerque’s tallest buildings may not qualify as skyscrapers, but the views from their rarefied top floors are spectacular.
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Rapid transit's worth might be more than you think, new reports say

Blake Driver
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

Two new reports say Albuquerque Rapid Transit will improve access to jobs and residences and spur upwards of $3 billion in new property development near the transit corridor.
Business owners and concerned citizens have been vocal in their opposition to the city’s plans for a new rapid transit system along the Central Avenue corridor, claiming that construction during its implementation could put struggling stores out of business and criticizing the city’s planning of the project as “piecemeal” and uninformed.

But the new studies project ART's improvements to the current bus system to be well worth the pain.

The Mid-Region Council of Governments released a report in December showing that one of the major benefits of the new system could be access to more jobs and residences due to the combined effect of increased service frequency, reduced transit travel times and greater reliability.
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Albuquerque Rapid Transit initiative to receive $69 million

Blake Driver
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque is slated to receive $69 million from the Federal Transit Administration toward the construction of the controversial Albuquerque Rapid Transit initiative along Central Avenue.
President Barack Obama released information about his proposed 2017 budget Tuesday morning, and Mayor Richard J. Berry tweeted it to his followers.

Initially, planners were hoping to receive $80 million toward the $100 million project, which was increased recently to $119 million to cover design changes made in response to suggestions and concerns raised at neighborhood meetings. Changes include pedestrian lighting, improved sidewalks, additional traffic signals to improve traffic movement, landscaping, and road safety audit recommendations for San Mateo Boulevard, among others, according to project manager Dayna Crawford.
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Bernalillo County considering which Downtown office building to purchase

Stephanie Guzman
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

Discussions are set to begin next week on whether Bernalillo County should purchase Downtown's First Plaza Galeria or the former PNM building Alvardo Square.
The county's Board of Commissioners will have a closed door session on the matter March 15.
Bernalillo County wants to move out of One Civic Plaza in order to consolidate all of its departments under one roof.
It started negotiations with the owners of the 282,500-square-foot Alvarado Square in April of 2015, but those negotiations failed to materialize.

First Plaza Galeria was brought to the table last year, and the commissioners voted to spend $75,000 to study the possibility of purchasing the 316,000-square-foot building.
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Abbey Brewing, Crackin’ Crab and more joining Downtown grocery store

By Jessica Dyer 
Journal Staff Writer 
Albuquerque Journal
%7Boption%7D25841638692_3d50d85152_o.jpgimperial building renters by mgs11, on Flickr

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Milk, bread, eggs and … a pint of Monks’ Ale?

Abbey Brewing Co. has confirmed it will open its first taproom as part of the new Downtown Albuquerque grocery store project. The brewery, which makes its beer at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu as well as in Moriarty, is one of three local businesses that confirmed this week their plans to join Silver Street Market in the nearly complete Imperial Building. The other two are restaurants: Crackin’ Crab Seafood Boil and a variation of Sophia’s Place.

The three will occupy ground level space at the four-story, mixed-use building at Second and Silver SW. That leaves just four commercial suites available, and the developer said a leasing deal is close for the largest among them.
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City Council votes 7-2 to approve funding for ART transit system

By Dan McKay
Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal

The word “boondoggle” came up more than once.

But a noisy four-hour debate late Monday didn’t soften City Council support for the plan to transform Central Avenue into a rapid transit corridor with a nine-mile network of bus-only lanes and canopy-covered bus stations.

City councilors voted 7-2 in favor of Albuquerque Rapid Transit, a priority of Mayor Richard Berry, who hopes to see service start by September next year. The council resolution authorizes the acceptance of nearly $70 million in federal money for the project.

“Of course, it’s going to cause some disruption and make people fearful of change,” said Councilor Don Harris, who described it as a tough decision. But “this is a rare opportunity. I think we need to take it.”

Berry called ART a “catalytic project” that will help inject new life into Central Avenue.

“It’s great for transit,” he said in an interview. “It’s great for economic opportunity. … We’re going to have a more thriving Main Street because of it.”
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Dorms, offices going up at InnovateABQ this summer

By Kevin Robinson-Avila
Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Developers will break ground this summer on a six-story building at the Innovate ABQ research and development site Downtown, providing new, high-tech facilities for University of New Mexico programs plus five floors of student housing.

It’s the first planned building for Innovate ABQ at Central Avenue and Broadway Boulevard, where UNM is working with the city, the county and private partners to create a research and development district in the heart of Albuquerque.

The 160,000-square-foot building will open by August 2017 and cost $35 million. It will be located on the northeast corner of the seven-acre property, which UNM acquired in 2014 for the Innovate Albuquerque project that UNM and others began planning in 2013.
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This vote could have a big effect on ABQ development

Stephanie Guzman
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

The city's comprehensive plan update, the rules that govern new development in town, kicked off in February 2015. A key document that will change development in Albuquerque is set to go before the city's Environmental Planning Commission this summer.

The city's planning department aims to submit the new comprehensive plan at the end of April for a June commission hearing.

The rewritten plan has come together during the past year through community meetings and focus groups.

"The [comprehensive plan] is being updated to reflect new realities, new market demands and to propose a more proactive approach to planning for the future that is better able to adjust and then address demographic, economic and other potential changes," the planning department said.

The comprehensive plan sets goals and guidelines for neighborhoods, land use, transportation, housing, open space and more. Changes to the plan call for more mixed-use development, placemaking and pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods. You can read all 13 chapters here.

The document also addresses the changing demographics of Albuquerque as the population grows, which will be hard considering different groups of people want different things. The document acknowledges while millennials and baby boomers want semiurban lifestyles, more than half of respondents to a survey by the Mid-Region Council of Governments still want to live in a rural area.

"An ongoing challenge our region will face is how to protect rural lifestyles in the future despite an influx of more people," the document says.

To do that, the document suggests more infill development, especially development focused around urban centers and in different growth corridors, while staying away from sprawl.
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Lawsuit Filed Against ART

BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI
ABQ Free Press

A group of seven Albuquerque residents and 10 businesses were set to file a lawsuit Monday to stop Mayor Richard Berry’s $119 million Albuquerque Rapid Transit Project.
The lawsuit, to be filed this morning in state District Court in Albuquerque, seeks an injunction to stop the project. It alleges that in approving ART, Berry’s administration and the Federal Transportation Administration violated the National Historic Preservation Act and the federal Administrative Act. It also alleges that the 10-mile-long ART project along Central Avenue is a public nuisance and constitutes the taking of property by the government.
“The proposed corridor will require the destruction or impact of well over 48 Historic Landmarks that are registered with the National Historic Registry and the destruction of well over 217 trees of historic and environmental significance to the communities involved,” the lawsuit said.
“The proposed corridor will require at least 18 months of construction, which will devastate local businesses along the corridor and eliminate their access to customers during construction and after construction, as the project will prohibit left hand turns on Central Avenue.”
The suit also said that the process by which the project was approved by the feds was a sham and that environmental, traffic and historic preservation studies either weren’t done, or were incompletely done.
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UNMH takes next step toward new $500 million project

Stephanie Guzman
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

An Albuquerque-based architecture firm that has designed many University of New Mexico Hospital facilities was awarded the contract to create a new development plan for a replacement hospital.
FBT Architects, along with Omaha, Nebraska-based HDR, an architecture and engineering firm, will help UNMH determine the new hospital's scope, space and staging requirements. It's not the first time the two companies have partnered. They are both currently working on the UNMH Children's Psychiatric Center.
UNMH has plans to replace its main facility on Lomas Boulevard north of the main campus, with a new adult acute care and behavioral health hospital. The university has said for some time that its existing adult acute care facility badly needs an upgrade. The existing 308-room hospital, built in the 1950s, can't accommodate modern equipment, has small teaching spaces, and patients have to share bathrooms and have a lack of privacy in the hospital's semi-private rooms.
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Sandia Peak could someday be home to ‘mountain coaster’

By Dan McKay
Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Journal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Bernalillo County commissioners agreed late Tuesday to consider financial incentives to help improve the attractions atop Sandia Peak – including the possibility of building New Mexico’s first “mountain coaster,” a roller coaster that could race beneath the forest canopy.

The commission accepted introduction of a proposal to issue $9 million in industrial revenue bonds to help finance renovation of the High Finance restaurant and other improvements.

The applicants are Sandia Peak Ski Co. and Peak Dining LLC, and they would be responsible for repaying the bonds. The IRB transaction, however, usually reduces borrowing costs and provides tax breaks.

The details will come before the County Commission for final approval at a future meeting.
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