A nearly 77,000 square foot office building in a busy commercial section of growing Rio Rancho is being listed for sale for just under $15.5 million. Located at 4330 Picabo Street NE, the one-story structure has been leased as office space for the Bank of America, which has undertaken several upgrades to the massive structure in the last decade, including both new roofing and a new air conditioning system. Built in 1997 and 1998, the structure was officially opened in the late summer of 1998, an event attracting local business and political leaders with the late U.S. Senator Pete Domenici among the invited guests. The building sits on a 14-acre site on the northeast side of Rio Rancho near the Pat D’ Arco Highway and initially served for several years as an office for the Nations Bank Card Services Call Center. The property is being listed by the Calabasas, California-based Marcus & Millichap, the largest commercial real estate investment firm in the country. By Garry Boulard
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In the final days of the 2022 winter session, members of the New Mexico State Legislature are contemplating a bill that would establish a first-ever film academy in the state. The idea was proposed earlier this year by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham who said the academy could provide the training needed for students to become employed in the state’s growing film industry. The Governor’s proposal came with a $50 million price tag but did not specify where what is being called the Next Generation Media Academy would be built. The legislation comes in the wake of a study released last year by the New Mexico Economic Development Department showing that actors, production crew members, and others in the film industry were responsible for upwards of $623 million in direct spending in New Mexico. That study, Economic Impact of the New Mexico Film Production Tax Credit, looking at the state’s refundable tax credit for film and television work within the state, noted that while spending on movie production was on the upside in 2021, “television productions make up around 60% of projects covered by the incentive.” The report added that a “major challenge looking to the future is that New Mexico suffers from a lack of film and television production workforce capacity, at all levels and roles.” The proposed $50 million to establish and build the academy would, if approved by the legislature, come in the form of a capital outlay. As envisioned, the academy would be run by a consortium of colleges and universities in the state. By Garry Boulard After seeing planned projects scaled back or outright cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak, new hotel construction projects are expected to increase in the coming months, according to data released by the company Lodging Econometrics. “Pandemic exhaustion and pent-up demand for ‘get-aways’ have led to a growing number of Americans becoming more open to travel,” notes the report, remarking: “In addition to leisure travel, the business sector has a strong desire to travel and meet in person.” The hospitality information service based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is reporting that as of the end of last year the total national hotel construction pipeline amounted to just over 4,800 projects, a decrease of 8% over the same time period in late 2020. At the same time, the number of projects in the planning stage saw an increase of 18% in the final quarter of 2021 over the last four months of 2020. Altogether, it is expected that around 783 hotels will go up before the end of this year, accounting for just over 90,000 new rooms. For 2023, Lodging Econometrics is forecasting the completion of another 820 projects, comprising 93,100 rooms. By Garry Boulard Plans are advancing for the construction of just under 140 new homes on the southwest side of Tucson. The project will go up near the intersection of South La Cholla Boulevard and West 36th Street across the way from the upscale Enchanted Hills residential neighborhood. As planned, the homes will be built on some 60 acres of vacant desert land, with at least 14 of the homes designated as affordable housing. Members of the Tucson City Council have now voted to approve a proposal presented by the Tempe-based Buena Vista Properties 2000 doing away with a minimum lot size of 36,000 square feet at the site and maximum of two single family residences on those lots. In return, the company has committed to leaving more than two thirds of the larger area undeveloped, with a bike and pedestrian path to be built on the site’s west side. According to city documents, Buena Vista’s goal for the project is to not only “provide much-needed housing options for residents and future residents,” but to do so with “an environmentally sound approach that fits within this area of the region.” The project has been in the talking stage for around two years, with at least two public input meetings. According to news sources, several hundred saguaros may be uprooted and transplanted elsewhere to make way for the project. That tree-like cactus species is native to southern Arizona. By Garry Boulard A young person’s multi-purpose recreational center some 70 miles to the west of the New Mexico border has announced plans to build a $30 million outdoor athletic complex. For decades, Kids., Inc., has provided recreational space for many elementary and middle school students in the Amarillo area. Now the company wants to launch a project that will see the building of a 60-acre lighted synthetic turf field on land located to the south of Loop 35, between Interstate 27 and Coulter Street in Amarillo. The project has taken a big step forward with the donation of 90 acres from the building and planning firm, Rockrose Development, also based in Amarillo. The synthetic turf will be part of a larger planned athletic complex, which will also include seating and metal picnic table space, as well as an indoor track facility. Officials with Kids, Inc. say that once the new facility is built, it will be able to host softball, football, baseball, and disc golf teams, among other activities. Kids, Inc. has long been known for offering facilities to young people, initially as a means of combating juvenile delinquency. In 1962, during a time a civil rights upheaval in both the South and West, a newspaper article noted that Kids, Inc. was “an organization for boys and girls of all races, creeds and color.” A capital fundraising campaign is currently underway to begin the first phase construction of the new facility. By Garry Boulard Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to do away with the 18.4 cents per gallon federal fuel tax for the duration of 2022. In introducing the legislation, New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan said, “We need to continue to think creatively about how we can find new ways to bring costs down, and this bill would do exactly that, making a tangible difference for workers and families.” Co-sponsor of the legislation is Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. In an interview, Hassan added that suspending the tax, “while we go after some of the supply chain challenges we’ve seen that is one of the drivers of inflation is just common sense.” Revenue from the tax, which has remained at the 18.4 cents level since 1993, goes to the Highway Trust Fund. That fund, in turn, is used to pay for an array of federal road construction and surface transportation projects across the country. Responses to the proposal have been varied, with the Associated General Contractors arguing that the move will “make it harder for President Biden to keep his promise to fix roads and bridges that are in desperate need of improvement across the country.” In a statement, Stephen Sandherr, chief executive officer of the AGC, added that the bill, if passed, “would leave a massive hole in the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is largely funded by the gas tax, that pays for federal investment in road, bridge, and transit projects.” Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, in an interview with the Washington Post, characterized the fuel tax suspension as “short-sighted, ineffective, goofy, and gimmicky.” Signaling its support for the legislation, the Mankato Free Press in Mankato, Minnesota, proclaimed that the “tax break would come at a time when gas prices may rise due to demand from workers going back to their office and workplaces as the omicron virus continues to wane.” By Garry Boulard A modernistic 60,000 square foot tennis court facility sitting on 8.6 acres in Santa Fe is being listed for sale for $4.9 million. The Shellaberger Tennis Center is located at 1600 ½ St. Michael Drive and was built in 2003. Designed by the Albuquerque-based architectural firm of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, the facility is distinguished by two separate wings housing three tennis courts each. Those two wings surround an outdoor stadium court, with adjacent seating for up to 1,000 people. Built in honor of philanthropist Rosemarie Shellaberger, who had donated $4 million to fund its construction, the center, which has two floors, additionally houses a pro shop, lobby, office space, and locker rooms. Listed by Barker Realty of Santa Fe, the center is a part of the sprawling 64-acre Midtown Campus, the former home of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. By Garry Boulard A proposal to create more affordable housing in one of the most expensive cities for housing in the West could accelerate construction costs. That’s the take by several development groups on an affordable housing mandate proposed by the City of Denver that would require those who are building projects with ten or more apartment or condominium units to set aside up to 15% of the structure for affordable housing. Developers opting to forego the mandate’s requirement could end up paying fees equal to $250,000 a unit. Such fees would then be deposited in the city’s affordable housing fund. In a statement, Laura Aldrete, director of the Denver Community Planning and Development department, said, “Anyone who has been in Denver for some time can tell you how difficult it can be to find a place that’s affordable, especially if your income has not increased as much as rents and home prices have over the past decade.” As proposed, the actual number of required affordable units could change depending on the price of any given complex’s rents and where exactly the projects are built. The higher 15% would most likely apply to projects in upper end neighborhoods, while just 8% of units would need to be affordable in middle income neighborhoods. Less controversial, the proposal also calls for offering zoning and financial incentives, including permit fee reductions and flexible parking requirements to offset the cost of building affordable units. According to city documents, expanded affordable housing options are particularly needed for “people who make too much to qualify for traditionally subsidized housing, but not enough to afford the high costs of housing in Denver today.” Equally challenging is the question of availability, according to the Denver Post, which earlier this year noted that there was an average of “14 applicants for every vacant apartment in the Denver metro area” in 2021. The public comment period for the proposed affordable housing mandate has a deadline of March 14. By Garry Boulard The country’s urbanized areas witnessed a marked nearly 15% increase in home sale prices during the final quarter of last year, according to a new report just issued by the National Association of Realtors. That increase means that the median sales price came in at just under $362,000, representing a continued upward trend that has been underway since 2020. The survey, Metropolitan Median Area Prices and Affordability, indicates that home sale prices were up in all regions of the country, with the South seeing the greatest growth at just under 18%. The increases were less dramatic, but strong nonetheless, in the Midwest with an 8.6% gain and the West at 7.7%. The slowest growth was recorded in the states of the Northeast at 6.8%. In a statement, Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the NAR, noted that “Homebuyers in the last quarter saw little relief as home prices continued to climb, albeit not as fast as earlier in the year.” Yun added that the nationwide increase in home prices are “indicative of a seller’s market, with an abundance of eager buyers and very limited supply.” Among the largest gainers was the Phoenix metro area with a 25.7% increase; metro Tucson, at 24.9%; metro Las Vegas, Nevada, at 24.7%; and Salt Lake City, at 24.4%. Meanwhile, of the 10 most expensive markets in the U.S., eight were located in the West, including metro Boulder, Colorado with an average price of $775,100. The NAR report additionally noted that in 20 markets where the average home sales price ranged from $500,000 to $1.6 million, around $100,000 was needed for a down payment on a home. But in 81 markets with a sales price average of around $267,000, the down payment stood at under $50,000. By Garry Boulard The Omaha, Nebraska-based Scooter’s Coffee has announced that it will open three locations in Las Cruces, with the first scheduled to be ready for business by late spring. Launched in 1988, Scooter’s Coffee to date has more than 400 stores up and running across the country. The company, with a business plan featuring drive-up service, has significantly grown in just the last few years alone, adding more than one hundred locations since early 2021 and increasing its footprint from 23 to 30 states. Scooter’s Coffee officials last year said that they want to have at least 1,000 stores opened by 2024, with expansion plans focusing on the states of the West. The company’s stores average in size between 550 and 750 square feet, with walk-in counter and seating space. Scooter’s Coffee has largely become popular due not only to the convenience of its drive-up stores, but also a menu that includes a wide variety of coffees, as well as blended drinks and smoothies. The company’s game plan for Las Cruces will see a second store built and opened by the end of this year, with a third location expected to be completed by the spring of 2023. By Garry Boulard |
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