albuquerque community center project gets initial ok

A proposal to build a new community center on the southeast side of Albuquerque that will replace an existing nearby community center has cleared an important hurdle.

The new Singing Arrow Community Center will go up at a 16-acre site on the northeast corner of the Singing Arrow Park.

As proposed, the new structure, which is expected to cost around $5 million to build, will measure around 15,000 square feet.

City officials say the existing community center on the west side of the park is no longer large enough, at just over 12,000 square feet, to accommodate the variety of programs it houses.

Those programs include youth-oriented arts and crafts, homework assistance, and after school meal offerings.

Recommended for approval by the staff of the city planning department, the new center, according to Environmental Planning Commission documents, will “provide additional services for more residents,” with those residents engaging in “outdoor education, recreation, and cultural activities related to the community center, the park, and the adjacent open space.”

As designed by the Albuquerque-based architecture and planning firm Consensus Planning, the new center will be 25 feet tall at its highest point, with the rest of the building coming in at around 21 feet in height.

The exterior of the structure will be finished in stucco with a stone veneer.

Even though the project has now won the approval of the Environmental Planning Commission, some neighborhood opposition to the new center, in the form of worries about increased traffic, noise, and the possibility of vagrants congregating at the facility, has spurred opposition from nearby residents.

That opposition could be heard in an upcoming Albuquerque City Council meeting reviewing the project.
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The $5 million construction cost for the new center is coming out of previously approved general obligation bonds. 

​By Garry Boulard

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