Albuquerque Development Thread

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New strategy for progress

By Kevin Robinson-Avila / Journal Staff Writer

A groundswell is building in Albuquerque that could turn Central Avenue from Downtown to Nob Hill into a bustling center for research, innovation and new businesses.

Much of it is bubbling up around the Innovate ABQ initiative and companion projects, which aim to establish a high-tech research district that starts in the heart of Downtown and emanates east and west along Central Avenue.

But at its foundation is a novel economic development strategy – led by the city in cooperation with academic and business leaders – that squarely focuses on inspiring individual and private-sector innovation as the basis for growing Albuquerque’s economy, rather than continue its historical dependence on government investment.

The goal is to forge public-private partnerships and programs that help build entrepreneurial skills and know-how among Albuquerque’s workforce and investors, providing them with the technical assistance, business training and resource support needed to create homegrown companies that grow and thrive.

“For the first time in a long time, there is an urgency and bipartisan understanding that we must diversify our economy and not keep all our eggs in one basket with federal dependency,” Mayor Richard Berry said.

http://www.abqjournal.com/369878/biz/progress.html

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Governor weighs special session in wooing Tesla

By James Monteleone / Journal Staff Writer

Gov. Susana Martinez said her office is evaluating whether a special legislative session is necessary to complete the package of economic incentives being crafted to make New Mexico more appealing to Tesla Motors.

“There are discussions whether or not it needs to be,” Martinez said Monday after she addressed an Albuquerque meeting of NAIOP, the area’s commercial real estate development association. “If it’s necessary, we are open to whatever we can do that would even include that sort of thing. I’ve had legislators say, ‘If it’s necessary, we’ll come.’ ”

Martinez said the state is in the running for the company’s $5 billion battery manufacturing plant in part because of tax code changes made during recent legislative sessions, such as the state’s reduction in corporate income taxes and tax cuts for manufacturers who export their products out of state.

“Because we are now more competitive, we’re in the game. We’re negotiating, we’re talking, we’re trying to do the very best to stay in the game, and with the help of some of the things that happened during the session, we are going to keep our fingers crossed,” Martinez said, adding that she could not discuss details of the negotiations.

Tesla plans to build a 10 million-square-foot battery plant estimated to create 6,500 new jobs. New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Texas are considered finalists for the facility.

Democratic legislative leaders said a special session to woo Tesla would be unprecedented, and appropriate only if New Mexico has evidence that it was Tesla’s pick.

http://www.abqjournal.com/370434/new...woo-tesla.html

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Innovate ABQ making headway

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

The University of New Mexico is continuing to work on the Innovate ABQ incubator Downtown and is about 60 days away from closing on the Downtown property.
In a brief update on Tuesday morning, Lisa Kuuttila, CEO and chief economic development officer at STC.UNM, said the school is waiting for the results of environmental studies and is on track to close on May 1.
Kuuttila also said that consulting firm Perkins+Will will come to the city to help begin the master planning process in April. “It’s exciting to see this idea turn into what we’re calling the ‘innovation network,’” Kuuttila said. “We have Stu Rose’s new Fat Pipe, and with CNM’s announcement, there’s a lot going on.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...medium=twitter

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Anasazi Downtown ready for first residents

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

This one was a long time coming, but the light is no longer at the end of the tunnel — it’s at the entrance.
The Anasazi Downtown highrise at 524 Central Ave. SW should see its first residents move in this spring. Lynette Manzanares, who has the listing for the Anasazi’s 45 condominiums, said four units are under contract now and should close by the end of April, with move-ins to follow soon after.
Manzanares is the owner and qualifying broker of Mercury Properties with Joe Corso — both of whom market the Anasazi’s residential units.
Manzanares said three model units are set to be completed by the end of this week for prospective residents to tour. She said after the developer, PEM Real Estate Group of Scottsdale, Ariz., finishes the model build-outs, it will embark on finishing other units that could be for sale in as soon as 30 days. She said Anasazi will hold a grand opening event sometime around the end of April or the first week in May to show off the condos.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...residents.html

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Innovate ABQ Renderings






http://coyotecouty.blogspot.com/

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Next Romero Rose project Downtown could be mixed-use
Damon Scott

Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Jonathan Rose says Albuquerque really needed mixed income housing, so he built some. But the developer’s next project could be mixed use.
Rose is the leader of the Jonathan Rose Cos., with a development arm here in Albuquerque — Romero Rose — led by Teresa A. Bell. Rose is in Albuquerque Monday for the grand opening of Downtown’s Casitas de Colores — a $16.2 million, 71-unit multifamily complex at 215 Lead Ave. SW. The site is just west of Romero Rose’s Silver Gardens I and II development at Second Street and Silver Avenue SW.
The next logical step for development, Rose said in a Business First interview, is on a plot of land in between Silver Gardens and the Downtown Century 14 theater parking structure. It has been operating temporarily as the Alvarado Urban Farm, run by the Downtown Action Team.
Rose said the land could end up being a live-work project and serve as an incubator with a “start-up, entrepreneurial focus.” He said the prospect of a project, for which the thinking is still in the initial phase, is even more intriguing due to the recent developments around Innovate ABQ at the nearby old First Baptist Church site at Broadway Boulevard and Central Avenue. Rose said ideas for the project are still initial stages. The land is city-owned, with a development agreement with Romero Rose.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...-be-mixed.html

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City works to integrate Innovation Corridor

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Albuquerque’s new Innovation Corridor is more than just a business center, it’s a springboard to develop companies and for the city to pioneer new ideas, said city economic development director Gary Oppedahl at Wednesday’s Economic Forum Meeting. The city is working on several new initiatives, he said, that should make the city’s urban core more user-friendly.
The first, he said, will be a new mobile app that will show people where available parking spaces are, and allow you to pay for and reserve a spot in advance. Though it is still in development, it will work with the city’s parking meters first, and then with private lots.
“One of the things we need to do is show that there is parking in Downtown,” Oppedahl said.
The new app will show all 9,183 spaces in the Downtown core.
Also, he said, the city has several other plans to connect the corridor with other parts of the city. The first major project, he said, will be removing the Central Avenue underpass and converting it to an at-grade crossing.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...03-26&page=all

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Comment sought on Uptown construction project

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer

Albuquerque officials plan to seek proposals from private developers this year for a construction project in Uptown that would include a mix of apartments, commercial space and a parking structure.

Bruce Rizzieri, director of ABQ Ride, the city’s transit system, said gradual improvement in the economy bodes well for a residential and commercial project in Uptown first envisioned years ago.

“We’re moving forward now because we think the timing is right,” Rizzieri said Friday. “We think there’s a need for the type of studios and apartments that are being proposed for this area.”

a04_Transit-CenterThe multi-story development would occupy city-owned property at the southeast corner of Uptown and Americas Parkway NE where the Uptown Transit Center is located.

The city purchased the one-acre site in the 1990s with federal funding and used about a quarter-acre as a transfer station for ABQ Ride, the city’s bus system. The remainder of the site is now a surface parking lot.

http://www.abqjournal.com/376549/new...-proposal.html

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Proposed ABQ budget adds to spending on development

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Of the $1 million Albuquerque Mayor Richard J. Berry is proposing for the city Economic Development Department, large chunks of it go to support Albuquerque Economic Development Inc. and Talent ABQ.
The proposal, while far from final, has been split into four distinct parts: projects, people, strategies and others, according to city documents.
But Berry also is proposing to fund the sale of an additional $30 million in bonds for critical capital infrastructure.
“If we have employers that are looking at the city of Albuquerque, that can be used for sewer, water, rail or whatever they need,” Berry said.
On Tuesday, Mayor Berry released his 2015 budget proposal, and it includes an additional $1 million for the Economic Development Department. Last year, the department received $3.125 million.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...&ed=2014-04-02

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BernCo has an innovation plan, too

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Bernalillo County released its 2014 Technology District report on Monday, one that both mirrors and expands on the city’s ideas of an Innovation Corridor.
The city and University of New Mexico are pushing a separate new plan that would connect the university area, Downtown, Old Town, and federal labs. On Tuesday, Mayor Richard Berry proposed spending more than $150,000 in 2015 on the corridor, which includes a project coordinator.
But the county has been working on a similar idea since 2009.
In 2009, Bernalillo County started looking at the Haidan Research District and Zhongguancun Science Park in Beijing, China. In that park, universities, labs and technology businesses are all connected. Since their 2009 visit to the park, Bernalillo County leaders developed the Bernalillo County Technology District, which has many of the same ideas as the Innovation Corridor the city and the University of New Mexico are pushing, though it has a larger geographic area.

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

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Albuquerque Rail Yards project. Spread the word.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/t...l-yards-market

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Downtown grocery store project gets key funding

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

A mixed-use development that will feature a 12,000-square-foot grocery store is closer to becoming a reality for Albuquerque’s Downtown.
The Imperial Building, a Geltmore LLC development to be built at 205 Silver Ave. SW. between Second and Third Streets, has received a preliminary award for a 9 percent low income housing tax credit through the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority.
Geltmore developer David Silverman said the almost $20 million project, on about one acre, is one of the first urban mixed-use developments to receive funding from the NMMFA. Silverman anticipates the final award to come at the organization’s May board meeting.
“The Imperial Building is an incredible example of a successful public-private partnership,” Silverman told Business First. “It is very exciting that the grocery store, which will be the catalytic project for Downtown Albuquerque, will soon be a reality. We are confident that our city will have the opportunity to start shopping at the grocery store in the first quarter of 2016.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...y-funding.html

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El Rey gets new operator

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

It looks like new shows will be coming to Downtown Albuquerque’s El Rey Theater in about a month.
Local promoter Christopher Meyers and his partners have signed a five-year lease to operate the 14,000-square-foot El Rey, located at 620 Central Ave. SW.
The theater became available last December after Hobbs-based Invision Entertainment stopped operating after a renovation and short run of offering Mexican pop acts.
Meyers’ Open Curtain Productions will offer electronic dance, hip-hop, rock ‘n’ roll and country shows. Some shows will be for patrons 18 and older and some shows will be for patrons 21 and older, he said.
Carl R. Grending, adviser at Sperry Van Ness/Walt Arnold Commercial Brokerage, said Open Curtain will also revive the former Golden West Saloon as an enclosed patio space. The Golden West burned in 2008.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...medium=twitter

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Designer sketching plans for Albuquerque fashion district

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

If Melissa Lea Beasley has her way, Downtown’s First Plaza Galeria will become a center point for the fashion industry in the city and the state.
Beasley opened new headquarters for her two-year-old Albuquerque Apparel Center on the lower level of the Galeria last week. But that’s just the beginning.
Beasley, who is an award-winning fashion designer, also wants to put a fashion school there, with wholesale and retail components too.
“I’ve started what I want to be a permanent fashion district,” Beasley said. “The art community is very organized and networked in the state, but the fashion community less so. I want Downtown to be the connection.”
Beasley said she likes the Galeria because of its location, but also because there are currently spaces available near her administrative offices, to build synergy.

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

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New Mexico picking up Sriracha’s scent

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

Could the makers of the spicy sauce Sriracha move to New Mexico?

KOB-TV reports that Huy Fong Foods is considering moving its factory from Irwindale, Calif., to New Mexico. The company makes the spicy, but very popular, Sriracha sauce that has caused issues of air pollution, in the form of a spicy odor, in California.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1397832572

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Flamenco Institute gets ready to rebuild after fire

By: Jen Samp,
KOB Eyewitness News 4

The National Insititute of Flamenco is planning to rebuild after a December fire destroyed their building.

This week the area was cleared of the rubble and is now a big parking lot.

Coordinators with the institute say they are working on a big come back.

Marisa Magallanez with the Flamenco Institute said they may return to the downtown area at some point and will meet with the owner of the lot to discuss possibilities.

For now, the institute is operating out of UNM, a situation Magallanez said she hopes is temporary.

The institute is trying to build the anticipation a bit.

They'll announce a master plan in June at the International Flamenco Festival.

Investigators still don't know what caused the fire in December.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S...6#.U1fUoVVdWE5

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Nordstrom Rack, DSW coming to Winrock

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

One of the most well-known names in American fashion is coming to Albuquerque.
Nordstrom, which operates its offshoot Nordstrom Rack, will build a new location at Albuquerque’s Winrock Town Center in the Uptown corridor.
It’s a first to the state and a big win for Winrock, which has been aggressively developing its perimeter with restaurants, retail, the new Regal IMAX theater and soon high-end apartments.
Those involved closely in the Nordstrom Rack transaction said it would be new construction at the mall, and that Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. officials would be making a formal announcement Thursday.
A typical Nordstrom Rack is 30,000 to 35,000-square feet and the stores are typically known for offering discounted Nordstrom merchandise. There are more than 140 Nordstrom Racks in the U.S. with 260 regular Nordstrom locations. In addition, DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) will be coming to Winrock, too. That announcement is expected Thursday as well. The typical DSW is about 15,000 to 18,000-square-feet. It is a name brand and designer footwear retailer headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. It operates hundreds of stores across the U.S. with the catch phrase “Designer shoes. Warehouse prices.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1398348589

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FatPipe beginning to fill out

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

It doesn’t look like much now.
But FatPipe ABQ is coming together. On Monday, Lisa Adkins, the director of the new collaborative working space, said that the new facility is on track to open by July 1 in the former library at the old Albuquerque High School.
FatPipe ABQ will be the city’s first large tech space with dedicated high-speed Internet connectivity.
“We’re almost there,” Adkins, who is also the director of The BioScience Center, said Monday.
Already the space is being transformed. New walls are going up that will separate a meeting space and a kitchen is getting installed.
The space is designed to be a wide-open collaborative space for tech workers and computer coders who need high-speed connections, as much as 300mbs.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...0&t=1398780425

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Rail Yards kick off Downtown farmers market season

Damon Scott
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

While it might not feel like it this week, warm weather is on the way for the Duke City.
That means several of the city’s farmers markets have been gearing up. The Downtown corridor hosts one of the most popular and is debuting new offerings this season.
The first Rail Yard Market is May 4 at the city’s historic Rail Yards in south Downtown near the adjacent Barelas and South Broadway neighborhoods. It will be showcasing area farmers and their products, along with arts and crafts, live music and local restaurant vendors.
“The Rail Yards once employed the majority of the working people in Albuquerque, [so] it’s easy to argue that without the Yards, Albuquerque wouldn’t be the city that it is today,” said Howie Kaibel. Kaibel is the community manager and marketing director for Yelp Albuquerque and is one of the promoters of the Rail Yards Market. “The market will celebrate the organizations, farmers, artists, educators, musicians and culture that make New Mexico unique,” he said.
It is scheduled to run from May 4 to Nov. 2 at the Blacksmith Shop.
Meanwhile, the Downtown Growers Market will start its season May 17 at Robinson Park near Central Avenue and 8th Street. After nabbing significant sponsorships this year, it will also launch a Wednesday noontime market at Civic Plaza.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...80722&page=all

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Albuquerque 2030 District Gains Traction with MainStreet Partnership

By Tami Brunk
Construction Reporter

Laurie Tarbell, Vice President Downtown ABQ MainStreet
Voted one of the “Top 10 Best Cities to Live” in 2009 by U.S. News, in the five years since this designation Albuquerque’s reputation has taken some hits. First by gaining notoriety as the down-and-out-locale for the hit TV series “Breaking Bad,” and now gaining international acclaim as the poster child for police brutality.
What doesn’t make the national headlines is the quiet but steady momentum toward rebuilding, restoring, and revitalizing Albuquerque from the ground up. Three intersecting projects: Innovate Albuquerque, Albuquerque’s recent “Living Cities” designation, and development of an Albuquerque 2030 District are laying the foundation for a radical reboot of downtown Albuquerque.
The 2030 District movement was spurred by the 2030 Challenge, issued by Albuquerque native Ed Mazria’s firm, Architecture 2030 in 2006. The firm issued the challenge after identifying the link between climate change and the built environment: specifically, buildings comprise 48% of total U.S. energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHQ) emissions, and 77 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption.
In the eight years following the 2030 Challenge 2030 Districts have formed in Seattle, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Denver, and Pittsburg and over 20 cities across the nation, Albuquerque among them, at various stages of adoption. District formation involves active participation by building owners to adopt cities to reduce energy useage in existing and new buildings.
Downtown ABQ Mainstreet Board of Directors Vice President and UNM Architecture Departure alum Laurie Tarbell, LEED AP describes what a 2030 District is all about:
“A 2030 District is a voluntary program that will provide downtown property owners and developers an enticing invitation to build new buildings or effectively maintain and remodel existing structures in a forward-looking manner that will reinvigorate the area and attract desirable new occupants.”

https://www.facebook.com/Constructio...56520344364190