Albuquerque Development

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Developer to spend millions revitalizing retail center

By Jessica Dyer / Journal Staff Writer on Tue, Apr 30, 2013

A mostly vacant shopping center in Northeast Albuquerque is about to get some new life.

Accelerated Development has announced plans to remodel and revitalize the shopping center near the intersection of Interstate 40 and Eubank NE.

The center – known as Market Center East – is already home to Target but had gradually emptied in recent years to make way for a planned Lowe’s development, Accelerated Managing Principal Dave Cheatham said.

But Lowe’s changed its course, and Accelerated partnered with Q Real Estate to buy the 143,557 square feet of space from the home-improvement giant earlier this year. Terms were not disclosed.

Cheatham said the remodel would likely feature three big-box spaces and three to five smaller shops. He declined to say which retailers would be pursued but that the mix would complement Target – which owns its own parcel – and the Best Buy, Conn’s and Babies ‘R’ Us.

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/...dline-299.html

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UNMH backs off on new hospital for now

Gary Gerew
Assistant Editor-
Albuquerque Business First

Uncertainty about how future Medicaid payments will be made is making the University of New Mexico Hospital delay discussions about a new hospital.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that UNMH won’t ask state officials to approve plans for its proposed $146 million hospital until a deal is reached between the state and federal government over New Mexico’s restructuring of its Medicaid program.

UNMH has said it needs a new 185,000-square-foot, 96-bed adult care facility because it doesn’t have enough adult inpatient beds at its current hospital.

If the state’s revised Medicaid program, known as Centennial Care, wins federal approval, UNMH officials told the Journal it would then resume its efforts on behalf of a new hospital.

A decision on Centennial care is expected this summer, the Journal reported.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...eDprQQ08961b90

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Work finally underway at the Anasazi

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S....shtml?cat=504

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Time to revisit underappreciated Albuquerque

George Hobica, special for USA TODAY

12:46 p.m. EDT May 6, 2013

The historic city of Santa Fe and the artist — and ski bum — haven of Taos get all the love when New Mexico is mentioned. But Albuquerque? Until the hit TV show Breaking Bad came along, I'm guessing most travelers didn't even give the state's largest city a second thought, and those who did were just trying to figure out how to get from the airport to some place else. Too bad they didn't know: Albuquerque is one of the West's most unique cities, a relaxed but interesting town that deserves a lot more attention. If you haven't visited lately, or ever, please do stop by. Here's what I like best about this city on Route 66.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel...erque/2135883/

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Forest City lines up deal for Mesa del Sol stake

By Damon Scott and Dennis Domrzalski,
Albuquerque Business First Reporters


Forest City Enterprises Inc. is getting out of Albuquerque.

A spokesman for the $11 billion Cleveland-based developer said Monday that it plans to transfer its interest in Mesa del Sol in Albuquerque to its partner in the 13,000-acre master planned community project, the Covington Group Inc.

Forest City (NYSE: FCE.A) has been trying to sell its 3,000-acre stake in the project south of the Albuquerque International Sunport for more than a year.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...sol-stake.html

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Central Avenue transit meetings resume

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

The first of six dates in May for the public to chime in on the city’s plans for a Central Avenue Bus Rapid Transit concept begin tonight.

Officials in the city’s Transit Department and from ABQ RIDE are looking at a way to make public transit through the Central Avenue corridor more palatable to pedestrians, bicyclists and current and future businesses. Other U.S. cities have implemented BRT service with a variety of ideas, including the use of dedicated lanes for buses and strategically located stops.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...eDprQQ08961b90

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City considering adding parklets

Submitted by KOB.com Staff

Monday, May 6th, 2013, 9:56pm

They’re called parklets and they could be coming to downtown Albuquerque if one local group gets their way.

Urban @ ABQ says parklets, or parquitos, as they plan to call them, will get more people to enjoy the outdoors.

A parklet is when a business takes one or two parking spaces and convert them into public spaces or a seating area. It’s an idea that’s catching on in downtown’s across the nation but not everybody in Albuquerque think it’s a good idea.

http://downtown.kob.com/news/busines...dding-parklets

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More companies consider New Mexico

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

When it comes to encouraging new companies to move to New Mexico, the state may have turned the corner.

“We’re not there yet, but it’s looking good,” said Steve Vierck, the president and CEO of the New Mexico Partnership.

According to new numbers released by the partnership — an economic development agency focused on marketing the state for company expansions and moves — the number of company prospects has increased nearly fourfold from a year ago.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...eDprQQ08961b90

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Daly says economy has changed, but Mesa del Sol won't

By Damon Scott and Dennis Domrzalski,
Albuquerque Business First Reporters

A slew of local officials welcomed a changing of the guard at Mesa del Sol Tuesday afternoon, and they said they were confident the 13,000-acre master planned community would move forward.

Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc. announced Tuesday that it is selling its stake in the residential and commercial development in south Albuquerque to Covington Capital and Daly Real Estate Investments LLC. Word of the deal had begun circling in the local economic development community in recent days.

Daly Real Estate Investments Managing Partner Mike Daly, who has been involved in the project with Forest City since its inception, said he and Covington would not divert from the development’s original master plan, which is to bring businesses to the project as well as homes.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...eDprQQ08961b90

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ABQ hires NYC firm to market city to businesses

Dennis Domrzalski
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

The city of Albuquerque has hired a New York company to launch the first phase of a national campaign to market the Duke City as a place to open, move or grow a business, Mayor Richard Berry said Wednesday.

Development Counsellors International will head the first, three-month phase of the effort, which will focus on national publications like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Bloomberg and others, Deirdre Firth, manager of the Economic Development Division of the city’s Economic Development Department, said after Berry made the announcement during a speech to the Economic Forum of Albuquerque.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...ty-to-biz.html

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Peterson launches renovation of historic Simms Building

Damon Scott

Reporter-

Albuquerque Business First

Peterson Properties bought downtown Albuquerque’s iconic Simms Building in February for $1.75 million and has launched a $5 million renovation.

The 13-story office building at 400 Gold SW is about 60 years old and has not undergone any significant renovations or upgrades until now.

Doug H. Peterson, principal at Peterson Properties, said the family-run company has never taken on a project like Simms.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...61b90&page=all

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Only in Albuquerque: The Top Five Things You Can't Find Anywhere Else

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pam-gr...b_3224880.html

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Casitas de Colores taking shape in downtown ABQ.

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7-11 expanding Downtown Albuquerque location

As Downtown Albuquerque waits for its first grocery store, expected to break ground this fall, the corridor’s 7-11 location is set to expand.

The 7-11 at 401 Copper Ave. NW, just off the 4th Street Mall, is expanding into an adjacent 400 square feet, said Bob DeFelice, who owns the 2,200-square-foot space next to the 7-11. DeFelice said the additional space became available when restaurant La Quiche Parisienne Bistro relocated a couple of months ago.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1368566475

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Developers propose doubling size of Downtown grocery

Dan Mayfield

Reporter-

Albuquerque Business First

The proposed Downtown grocery store could get bigger.

The developers of the new grocery store Downtown on Tuesday presented ideas to the Downtown Action Team for doubling the size of the grocery store planned.

Blueprints from Geltmore Inc. show that the plan is to build a four-story building with 21,840 square feet of retail space on a larger footprint. The number of apartments above the store also nearly doubled, to 61. The grocery store itself will grow from 6,000 square feet to 11,555. It will have 27 parking spaces.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1368652716

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Long signs deal to acquire Downtown’s Hyatt Regency

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque hotel operator Jim Long and his longtime business partner Chris Smith have signed an agreement to buy the 395-room Hyatt hotel building in Downtown Albuquerque, Long said Monday.

The hotel, built in 1990, is one of Albuquerque’s most recognizable landmarks.

Long said he and Smith expect the deal to close in the next 60 days. He declined to disclose the purchase price or the name of the seller company.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...86154&page=all

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New eatery, hotel coming to North I-25 corridor

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque’s North I-25 corridor will soon have a new hotel and national restaurant opening.

The site for Irving, Texas-based Cheddar’s Casual Café has been cleared and construction is under way for the chain to open its first New Mexico location. The restaurant will be located off the Pan American Freeway between Fuddrucker’s and the Chama River Brewing Co., just south of the Century Rio 24 theater complex. The 8,100-square-foot restaurant is being constructed where CU Auto Sales was formerly located. Albuquerque’s Darrell Julian Construction has been hired to work on the project with general contractor Southfork Construction Inc. out of San Antonio.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1369174459

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UNM students work on sprucing up Route 66

By: Chris Ramirez, KOB Eyewitness News 4

The City of Albuquerque and the UNM School of Architecture and Planning teamed up to find ways to spruce up Route 66 through Albuquerque.

Students came up with renderings and designs to help the city rehabilitate parts of Central Ave. Some ideas include creating walkways over I-25, adding more parks and open-air markets along Central.

The idea is to create spaces that bring people together, just like the Route 66 of the 1950’s.

“We will take some of these projects and we'll take the ones that we think are the most applicable and we will start thinking of ways of implementing those either in its current form or a variation of that form up and down central avenue and we'll be looking for projects to do," Mayor Richard Berry said.

The students are in a class called City Lab. The City gave UNM space downtown to hold the class.

Instead of collecting rent, which would equal $50,000/year, the city is tapping into the brains of the faculty and students and plan on implementing some of the designs and ideas into reality.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S....shtml?cat=500

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County clears aisle for grocery store bond deal

Gary Gerew
Assistant Editor-
Albuquerque Business First

The Bernalillo County Commission have voted to consider a bond proposal sought by developers of a planned grocery store in Downtown Albuquerque.
The actual proposal is expected to be voted on by commissioners in August, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Paul Silverman of Geltmore Inc. told the Journal that the bond proposal is an important part of the financing plan for the project.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1369839245

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Hyatt Regency Albuquerque debuts new lounge

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Visitors to Downtown Albuquerque’s 395-room Hyatt Regency hotel have probably noticed its lobby atrium space near the gift shop and Starbucks storefront where busy professionals gather to connect to WiFi and enjoy coffee or a beverage from the nearby Keva Juice bar.

While the 1,600 square foot open space will continue to operate as such during daytime hours, at night it’s transformed into Urban Pear 330 — a new lounge concept that launched May 30

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Albuquerque couple purchases Occidental Life Building

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

One of Downtown Albuquerque’s architecturally distinct buildings has new ownership.

Laurie and Jared Tarbell have purchased the 26,000-square-foot Occidental Life Building at 301 Gold St. SW, Laurie Tarbell said Friday.

Terms of the deal for the fully leased building were not disclosed. Laurie Tarbell said a private cash offer was made to the Revelle family in Chicago, which has owned the structure for 30 years.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1370034953

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Fueling tech transfer

By Kevin Robinson-Avila / Journal Staff Writer on Mon, Jun 3, 2013

The University of New Mexico has become a prime breeding ground for high-tech startup companies.


UNM inventions licensed to private investors and entrepreneurs through the Science and Technology Corp., the university’s technology transfer office, have led to creation of more than 60 new businesses since the STC launched in 1995. In fact, when the current fiscal year ends on June 30, UNM will have achieved an annual record in startup formation, with nine new companies created.

Nearly three dozen are operating in New Mexico, including 29 scattered around Albuquerque. That includes everything from biotechnology companies trying to commercialize new drugs and medical devices to hardware and software firms developing cybersecurity and other systems.

Some now have dozens of high-wage employees. About 30 people, for example, work at nanoMR Inc., which is commercializing UNM technology to rapidly detect and identify blood infections. Another 30 work at IntelliCyt Corp., which sells a super-fast cytometry system invented at UNM to do cell analysis for medical diagnostics and drug discovery.

But despite such success, STC President and CEO Lisa Kuuttila says it’s not enough. She wants to see a lot more companies taking UNM technologies to market, and she wants them to grow into flourishing businesses that offer scores of high-paying jobs.

http://www.abqjournal.com/main/20634...-transfer.html

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Shade coming Downtown ABQ’s way, courtesy of DAT

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque’s Downtown Action Team said it will be working this summer to plant trees along the Central Avenue and Gold Street corridor.

The nonprofit received a $1,500 Keep Albuquerque Beautiful grant earlier this year with a 60 percent match from Plant World to fund the project, which will replace 15 dead, missing or dying trees. DAT is working with the Parks and Recreation Department to coordinate tree removal and replanting.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1370473592

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Adieux Cafe to open Downtown

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Three former Monte Vista Fire Station bartenders turned business partners are launching a soft opening of Downtown’s latest eatery — Adieux Cafe today.

Eliot Salgado, Ryan Barnhill and TJ Groff have been renovating a 2,000-square-foot space at 420 Central Ave. NW for about two months in a site that last housed a hair and nail salon and a florist. The trio revamped the space with their own money — about $35,000 — according to Salgado, who was most recently a manager at Nob Hill Bar and Grill.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...39719&page=all