Albuquerque Development

[BigTymeABQ]

Progress on the Imperial Building

[BigTymeABQ]

Conversion of Downtown Albuquerque's former federal building hits milestone

Stephanie Guzman
Albuquerque Business First

A long-vacant high rise in Downtown Albuquerque will soon reveal the transformation of its first two floors into loft-style apartments. Construction crews have been working at the former federal government building, located at 517 Gold Ave. SW, for years— and the living units are now taking shape.
The 58 units on its first two floors will include industrial-style ceilings and high-end appliances in the kitchen. Unit size will range between 400-and-1,100 square feet and the market rate rent is set for $1.50 per square foot — starting at about $600 per month, not including utilities.

Alex Vasquez, founder of Albuquerque's Rhino Realty, was hired by the project's developer — Anthony Mehran — to market and manage the apartments. He said the project has taken several years because it's a huge task to turn office spaces into living units. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Bernalillo County approves $1 million for Innovate ABQ

May 27, 2015, 11:43am MDT
Damon Scott
Albuquerque Business First

The Bernalillo County Commission voted 5-0 Tuesday night to issue $1 million in funds to the University of New Mexico’s Innovate ABQ project in Albuquerque’s East Downtown.
The funds require UNM to draft a five-year business plan and give the county a seat on the Innovate ABQ board of directors. The county had been asking UNM to provide for a 10-year business plan as part of the conditions. A reduction to five years was approved on a 4-1 vote, said said Andy Lenderman, a spokesperson in the county’s public information department.

The funds were approved after a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was voted on by all five commissioners. It is the latest in a string of funds the project has received — including money from the city of Albuquerque, the federal Economic Development Agency, Nusenda Credit Union and the UNM board of regents.
Innovate ABQ, located at the northwest corner of Broadway Boulevard and Central Avenue at the former First Baptist Church site, aims to create a new entrepreneurial center adjacent to Downtown. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Winrock Town Center construction time-lapse

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The Jaynes, Corp. Drone takes a tour of the YES Housing, Inc. Imperial Building construction site.

Edited May 29, 2015 by BigTymeABQ

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Imperial Building construction by Jaynes Corp Twitter feed.

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Albuquerque's Titan Development turns focus to offices after success in apartments

Stephanie Guzman
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque's Titan Development has completed many of their massive and successful Broadstone multifamily projects in the city and has more under construction. And while demand remains for more, Titan is turning its attention toward office projects too.
Kurt Browning, chief development officer with Titan, said he and his colleagues are in discussions about developing new office buildings. "We're looking at two sites right now. We've talked to a couple of end users," Browning said.

It would be the first time in several years that a developer has embarked on any significant Class A office projects. One notable exception is Scott W. Throckmorton of Argus Investment Realty, who has cleared the way for the 85,000-square-foot Independence Square office building in the North I-25 corridor on the northwest corner of Jefferson and Osuna Road. He's marketing the project now, although no construction has started yet. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Pricey Nob Hill apartments show strong demand

By Richard Metcalf
Journal Staff Writer

Fourth-floor apartments with monthly rents of $2,000 and up are seeing strong early demand in initial lease-up of the upscale Platinum Apartments in east Nob Hill, developer Rick Goldman said Thursday.

Multiple offers have been made on some of the primo top-floor units — one has a 1,500-square-foot deck — and several have been leased, he said. The four-story, 60,000-square-foot building, which has 75 apartments, is scheduled for move-ins on Aug. 1.

“There is a big demand for this type of unit in areas with high walkable and bikeable scores,” said Todd Clarke of New Mexico Apartment Advisors, who is not involved in the Platinum project. “It should do phenomenal.”

Monthly rents start at around $1,000 at Platinum, and go up based on size and location within the building. Units range from 565-1,350 square feet. Six units are at street level, while the rest are on the upper floors. Information is available at www.platinumabq.com.

For an apartment property of its size, Platinum’s top monthly rents are probably cracking a ceiling at $2,000 and up, although Clarke said, “There are a lot of units out there with rents that start with a 1.” 

[BigTymeABQ]

A new take on residential security?

By Dan McKay
Journal Staff Writer

Albuquerque homebuyers looking for that safe, secure feeling might have a new option someday.

Local developer Douglas Peterson has offered to buy Bernalillo County’s old Downtown jail for $1,000 and redevelop it – perhaps turning those old jail cells into residential spaces.

Peterson acknowledges that crews would have to rehabilitate the building – a fortresslike structure at Fifth and Roma NW – so residents wouldn’t feel as if they were living inside the old Bernalillo County Detention Center. And the project is likely to be difficult because of the incredibly sturdy concrete walls inside, he said.

But the point is, it isn’t necessarily a lost cause.

“My company has experience with multistory buildings and bringing them back to life,” Peterson said. “… It’s all about the money and whether it makes sense.”

Peterson’s offer comes as Bernalillo County commissioners struggle with how to handle a prime piece of Downtown real estate – a property that also happens to have an obsolete jail sitting on it. The jail has been vacant since 2011.

The building has roughly 150,000 square feet, on about 1.3 acres. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Relocation to bring 100 employees to Downtown Albuquerque

Damon Scott
Albuquerque Business First

About 100 state employees formerly working out of Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights are relocating to Downtown.
The District One Albuquerque Office of the New Mexico Environment Department will be moving during the end of the month from its current location at 5500 San Antonio Drive NE. The new Downtown location is in the Springer Square Building, located at 121 Tijeras Ave. NE, near Broadway Boulevard.

Allison Scott Majure, communications director for NMED, said operations should be up and running at Springer Square by July 1. She said the Downtown site will offer more space for operations. “Becoming a tenant in Albuquerque’s Downtown brings us closer to many commercial, retail and civic establishments,” Scott Majure told Business First. “We look forward to working Downtown and becoming an integral part of our new neighborhood.” 

[The ATX]

There was a best selling book in the '80s called Megatrends that listed and described why several sunbelt and western cities were poised to become the cities of the future.  Among them were Albuquerque, Tuscon and Austin.  All three cities/metros were around the same size then, but things have certainly changed since then.  I spent a few days in Albuquerque around that time and had a great time and could easily see why Albuquerque was predicted to have such a bright future.  Albuquerque is still a successful city, but do you have any thoughts as to why it didn't take off as some thought back then?  I think one of the reasons for the prediction was that Albuquerque was starting to see some of the "High Tech" (as it was called back then) economic growth that was starting to differentiate the Sunbelt and Rust Belt economies.  

[BigTymeABQ]

There was a best selling book in the '80s called Megatrends that listed and described why several sunbelt and western cities were poised to become the cities of the future.  Among them were Albuquerque, Tuscon and Austin.  All three cities/metros were around the same size then, but things have certainly changed since then.  I spent a few days in Albuquerque around that time and had a great time and could easily see why Albuquerque was predicted to have such a bright future.  Albuquerque is still a successful city, but do you have any thoughts as to why it didn't take off as some thought back then?  I think one of the reasons for the prediction was that Albuquerque was starting to see some of the "High Tech" (as it was called back then) economic growth that was starting to differentiate the Sunbelt and Rust Belt economies.  

I think some of the things that kept Albuquerque from reaching its potential were reliance on the federal government (Sandia National Labs, Kirtland AFB). Our leaders figured that as long as the feds spent the kind of money that they were spending, there would be no need to diversify our economy. When the economy pooped out, so did federal spending. That set ABQ back several years. Another thing that hurt was our tax structure. It penalized business for operating in New Mexico. Those tax policies are being fixed slowly. Albuquerque also never had an economic strategy. Our leaders always thought that things were good enough. Things are slowly getting better. Our current leaders are trying to change things, but have to contend with a lot of dinosaurs in Santa Fe who fight change. We have a lot to do here in Albuquerque. It's like starting from the bottom.

[BigTymeABQ]

Albuquerque bike share looks to expand

By Gabrielle Burkhart
KRQE News 13

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – About a month into Albuquerque’s pilot bike share program, and officials say it’s a success. Hundreds of people are using the system downtown, so much so, there could be more rental stations added soon.

The most popular bike share station so far, is the City Hall West location near 5th and Marquette.

What started as a small idea, is quickly growing. More and more people are avoiding traffic, and renting bikes downtown.

“We’ve had great success with the bike share so far,” explained Zoya Dixon, of the Downtown ABQ MainStreet Initiative. “Our memberships keep growing, and we’ve gotten a really positive response.”

Albuquerque’s pilot bike share program called ‘BICI,’ is being embraced.

“I like riding bikes anyway so I think it’s a great thing,” said Margi Ulibarri.

With 13 rental stations in downtown Albuquerque, and 65 bikes, in a month, people have taken more than 500 trips and counting. The rental website also has a map of all the locations.

The average rental time is about an hour and 20 minutes.

“There’s a lot of interest in making downtown a more walkable, pedestrian friendly environment, and so this really adds to that,” Dixon told KRQE News 13. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Construction of the Imperial Building in downtown Albuquerque

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Molina's Downtown Albuquerque move drives new restaurant, retail, expansion possibilities

Stephanie Guzman
Albuquerque Business First

Molina Healthcare of New Mexico is in the process of transitioning about 800 employees from its North I-25 headquarters to Downtown's Plaza Campana office complex.
That's 800 people that will breathe some life into Albuquerque's urban core — spending money on restaurants and retailers. Molina is expected to be fully operating in its new digs by the end of July.

With such a large tenant — Molina is leasing 137,000-square-feet of space — Plaza Campana's owners are interested in adding more amenities to the massive 477,000-square-foot building at 400 Tijeras Ave. NW, such as a bank, restaurant and coffee shop. (See accompanying slideshow for interior and exterior images.)

CBRE New Mexico is marketing the spaces, including a 4,000-square-foot office space on the southwest corner of Tijeras and 4th Street. Tom Jenkins, a first vice president at CBRE, said the space would be perfect for a bank, but the building owners are also open to other uses, including retail or an eatery.
"Molina has created demand, and now there's an opportunity to create supply with retailers and restaurants," Jenkins said.
The building's cafeteria on the southeast corner of Tijeras and 5th Street is ready-made to be a restaurant, according to Jenkins. The 8,700-square-foot space can be leased to one user, or split up into three smaller restaurants. Jenkins said the cafeteria space already has a walk-in freezer, cooking vents, dish cleaning station and large outdoor patio. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Downtown's grocery store development planning pharmacy and clinic

Sal Christ
Albuquerque Business First

Downtown Albuquerque's first grocery store in decades is under construction now, and the other concepts will join it on the ground level of the Imperial Building development are taking shape.
If the the grocery store developers — Geltmore LLC — has its way, the Silver Street Market will have neighbors that include a pharmacy and a clinic. According to David Silverman, a principal at Geltmore, the pharmacy and clinic idea have been on the wish list from the beginning.

"Most neighborhood shopping centers have a pharmacy-drugstore component, so it just makes sense. It's definitely one of the uses that we're very interested in bringing into the building. It could be the service provider for the Downtown area — particularly with all of the offices there. From the start, a pharmacy and clinic has been at the top of our priority list," he said.  

[BigTymeABQ]

Developer: 'In five years you won't recognize East Nob Hill'

Stephanie Guzman
Albuquerque Business First

Kenny Hinkes remembers sitting in his car, at the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Carlisle Boulevard in Albuquerque, thinking the lot with a tattoo and body piercing shop, was underutilized.
As a developer, Hinkes said he thought nobody in the business would touch the property, because anything east of Carlisle has often been considered the less desirable and profitable sector of Nob Hill. But he'd finished a Nob Hill's condo project — One Ten Richmond — in 2009 and was looking for a new one. So in 2013, he decided to "cross the Nob Hill divide" and make plans for the lot at 3600 Central Ave. SE.

Hinkes project is named The Carlisle. The former building that housed Ascension Body Modification has been torn down and in its place a three-story building will rise, featuring 36 condos and retail spaces. Hinkes’ company, Carlisle Condominiums LLC, is the lead of the development team. James C Lewis Architects is the architect, HB Construction is the general contractor, land planning was done by Consensus Planning and financing was provided by Southwest Capital Bank and First Mortgage Co.

Hinkes believes The Carlisle will encourage the private sector and investment community to look at East Nob Hill. He envisions the entire neighborhood will be transformed, from Carlisle to Washington Street SE.
"In five years, you won't recognize East Nob Hill," Hinkes said during a ribbon cutting at The Carlisle site Tuesday. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Innvoate ABQ board leaning toward 'innovative,' not property-minded, developer

Dan Mayfield
Albuquerque Business First

The votes are in, but the decision hasn’t quite been made on the new developer at the Innovate ABQ site.
Jeff Apodaca, vice president and general manager of Entravision (NYSE: EVC), and a board member, said Tuesday that the board has received and reviewed three responses to the request for proposals that was put out this spring for Innovate. The RFP decision 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.

Apodaca said the board interviewed the three bidders and he’s expecting an announcement will come soon. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Innovate ABQ Selects Developer

by innovateabq

Innovate ABQ has entered into a 90-day due diligence agreement with Signet Development, Goodman Realty Group and Dekker Perich Sabatini for the development of Innovate ABQ at 101 Broadway NE in Albuquerque.

After 3 years of thoughtful and collaborative planning by UNM and STC, the City of Albuquerque, Nusenda Credit Union, and Bernalillo County, the Innovate ABQ board launched the RFP process April of this year. Submissions, due June 1st, were received from a number of developers and after several rounds of discussions with the finalists, the board unanimously chose the developer group lead by Signet, The Goodman Group and Dekker/Perich/Sabatini.

The Signet group was selected because of their strong balance of local and national talent and experience with this type of project. They demonstrated an understanding and enthusiasm for the vision of Innovate ABQ, which was a significant factor in their selection:

their vision for the property as true mixed-use; with an emphasis on incubator, lab and maker space for innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers,
their commitment to a plan and construction choices that will result in an environmentally sustainable and green environment and footprint, and
their financial abilities and commitment to helping startups coming out of the Innovate ABQ ecosystem through possible financial and in-kind support and resources. 

[BigTymeABQ]

International firm ready to work with Albuquerque development vets on Innovate ABQ

Dan Mayfield
Albuquerque Business First

The next 90-days will be busier than normal at the offices of Signet Enterprises in Jacksonville, Florida. That's the time frame the firm has to develop the first plans for what Innovate ABQ will look like, how it will be paid for, and when it will be built.
The board of directors for Innvoate ABQ announced Wednesday that Signet, along with with Albuquerque's Dekker/Perich/Sabatini and Goodman Realty Group, will perform due diligence for the next three months on an agreement to design the seven-acre business and entrepreneurship center just east of Downtown on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Broadway Boulevard.

Jason Perry, senior vice president of Signet, told Business First that his group is “Sitting down with stakeholders and the committee and really understanding what this first project wants to be. It could be mixed-use and incorporate several elements.” At best, he said, dirt would start moving in about six-to-nine months.
The project, he said, will undoubtedly have new ground-up construction associated with it, but at least some of the former First Baptist Church structure would be used.
“We’re going to look at that as part of the overall 90-day period. What’s the best use? Is it a community space? Is it a presentation area? I think part of that is to understand what it wants to be,” Perry said. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Goodman, Dekker optimistic about Innovate ABQ

The two local partners in the Innovate ABQ project say it won't be built tomorrow, but it will get built soon.
"Hopefully the project will be done in my lifetime," joked Dale Dekker, a principal at architecture and design firm Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, who with Goodman Realty Group are the local partners in the development being spearheaded by Florida-based Signet Enterprises.

"I think there are some pretty immediate opportunities," said Gary Goodman, president of Goodman Realty.

Goodman said he was inspired to become a partner in the team by the potential of innovation, technology commercialization and the inventions that can come from the development.
"The reason we're interested is that we think Albuquerque's probably as poised as any city in the country to take advantage of the technology business revolution," Goodman said. "It's really transforming the workplace. We like the idea of creating an environment that attracts the millennials and attracts the startups."
Innovate ABQ is a partnership between the city of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, Nusenda Credit union and the University of New Mexico on seven acres Downtown. The project is designed to be a business and research park where people can live and work. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Next big steps for Albuquerque Rapid Transit happen this summer

Stephanie Guzman
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry had one question when he first considered bringing bus rapid transit to the Central Avenue corridor: "Is this going to be a private sector investment that drives public sector investment?"
The Federal Transit Administration said yes, and now after years of public outreach and planning, the Albuquerque Rapid Transit Line is getting ready to take its next big step this summer — submission for a capital grant through the government's Small Starts program.

Should the FTA provide the grant, it would cover 80 percent of the cost of the project. Berry said if the funding is a go, construction could begin soon and service might start as soon as the fall of 2017. 

Edited July 7, 2015 by BigTymeABQ

[BigTymeABQ]

DiGregory wants to develop East Downtown block

Stephanie Guzman
Albuquerque Business First


Vince DiGregory and his restaurateur brother Matt DiGregory opened Standard Diner in 2006. The two saw clearly the emergence of the East Downtown corridor that had been anchored for many years by Artichoke Cafe, but that also featured the emerging Lofts at Albuquerque High development.
Almost 10 years after opening Standard Diner, activity hasn't slowed in the community known as EDo.

The Lofts at Albuquerque High completed its last phase in 2009 and Hotel Parq Central, a former hospital at EDo's east end, was renovated and reopened as a boutique hotel in 2010. The corridor is perhaps most known for its restaurant scene. Including the aforementioned Standard Diner and Artichoke Cafe, there is also Farina Pizzeria, Holy Cow, Gravy, Hartford Square, A&B Lunch Box and The Grove Cafe & Market. Yoga studios, salons and boutique retailers dot the stretch from Broadway Boulevard to I-25 on Central Avenue. A new coffee and taproom concept is coming soon, too. 

[BigTymeABQ]

Imperial Building construction in downtown ABQ

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Urlacher team moves closer to building entertainment district near Pit

Dan Mayfield
Reporter
Albuquerque Business First

The University of New Mexico’s proposed entertainment district crossed a major hurdle toward becoming a reality Friday, with Lobo Development Corp. approving a new letter of intent to develop a slew of amenities on its south campus.
54 Development LLC, named after project partner Brian Urlacher’s football jersey number, is planning to build a microbrewery, 10,000-square-foot sports bar, coffee shop and feature sports-related retail on the southeast corner of University Boulevard and Avenida Cesar Chavez. Urlacher is a former UNM football star, who later played in the National Football League.
Albuquerque's Marble Brewery had previously been tapped in a partnership with UNM to develop the entertainment district.
“We have a general concept of what we want to achieve, which we believe is feasible in the market,” said development partner Paul Silverman of Geltmore LLC to Business First on Friday. Another partner is Steven Chavez, who is one of the founders of WisePies, which now owns the naming rights to the WisePies Arena, formerly The Pit.
“We haven’t gotten down in the weeds to really define the project, but we think there’s even more potential than what we offered in the letter of intent,” Silverman said.