albuquerque skyscraper project abandoned

A Request for Proposal is expected to be issued sometime this summer for a project that could go up on the same downtown Albuquerque site where a skyscraper had earlier been proposed.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller has announced that he wants to see construction at that site at 4th Street NW and Marquette Ave NW of a different kind of project, with the goal of attracting people to the downtown area.

Last summer the city’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency put out a Request for Proposal asking for ideas regarding what was being called the Symphony Tower.

That project, which had the backing of then-Mayor Richard Berry, was envisioned as a mixed-use tower topping out at 34 stories and measuring more than 300,000 square feet.

Approval of a plan for that project, submitted by Albuquerque-based real estate developer Geltmore LLC, was put off last November by the Albuquerque Development Commission in order that incoming Mayor Keller could make a final decision on the matter.

The planned upcoming summer Request for Proposal will also most likely ask for development ideas regarding another city-owned property at the intersection of Silver Avenue SW and 2nd Street SW, also in downtown Albuquerque.
 
 By Garry Boulard