Work could begin soon on the long-planned construction of a full-service library geared to serve the residents of Albuquerque’s International District. The $15 million project will be going on the north side of 7605 Central Avenue at the site of the former Caravan East Nightclub, which closed its doors in late 2016. The City of Albuquerque subsequently purchased the two-block site shortly after the nightclub went out of business, with the nightclub structure itself demolished a year later. As planned, the new facility, as designed by RMKM Architecture of Albuquerque, will not only include space for book shelves, but also community meeting rooms, interactive story walls, and an amphitheater. The project has been the subject of a series of public input meetings. Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System officials have long pushed for the construction of a library whose primary function would be to serve the underserved International District, which has a population of around 30,000 people and is known for its diverse population. The project is being funded through a combination of sources including just under $2 million in capital outlay spending approved last year by the New Mexico State Legislature, as well as $5.5 million in bond funding approved by local voters in November. An additional $505,000 in capital outlay spending for the project that was passed by lawmakers this winter was subsequently vetoed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. By Garry Boulard
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A two-story, 48,000 square-foot medical research and learning institute may be seeing construction later this year in Rio Rancho. Members of the Rio Rancho Governing Body have given their approval to the first reading of a loan ordinance that would pay for the construction of what is being called the University of New Mexico Center for Orthopedic Excellence. The facility will be built to the southwest of the Sandoval Regional Medical Center, which is located at 3001 Broadmoor Boulevard. Designed to be a part of the larger Rio Rancho Health Sciences Center, the new facility will house office, and clinical and classroom space, among other features. The New Mexico Finance Authority has authorized a loan of up to $15.5 million to pay for the construction of the new center. The loan itself will be paid for out of revenues from a gross receipts tax approved by Rio Rancho voters in 2008. Work could begin on the center by late spring or early summer, with a target late 2021 completion date. By Garry Boulard Just under 40 percent of construction companies in a new survey say they have been impacted enough by the COVID-19 outbreak to have to lay off employees. Those layoffs, according to the survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America, are in response to projects being delayed or cancelled because of the virus. “Owners are not only halting many current construction projects, but are also cancelling a growing number of projects that have not yet started,” noted Ken Simonson, the chief economist for the AGC. Simonson continued: “Inevitably, that has caused a growing number of contractors to furlough or terminate jobsite workers.” The survey also indicated that 53 percent of responding firms were prompted to cancel ongoing projects, or projects that were scheduled to launch in the next month. In addition, around 39 percent of respondents said they were contending with delays or disruptions of projects due to a lack of personal protective equipment for workers. A smaller 23 percent noted that they were also challenged by a shortage of construction materials as well as equipment and parts. In an effort to maintain their payrolls, some 60 percent of the respondents said they had already applied for loans through the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, or intended to soon do so. According to a separate survey published by the site Construct Connect, just under 3,200 construction projects nationally have now been delayed since the COVID-19. The state with the largest number of cancellations is New York at 300, followed by California with 271, and Texas with 207. Arizona is reporting the cancellation of 34 projects, with Colorado seeing 82 projects halted. A smaller 16 have been cancelled in New Mexico. By Garry Boulard The former mining town of Black Hawk could see the construction of a unique combined whiskey distillery and resort. The Jersey City, New Jersey-based Proximo Spirits says it wants to build what will be a 20-acre whiskey production facility that will include a hotel, housing, and open space. The site will also feature an axe-throwing course. Proximo is the parent company to the popular Tincup Whiskey, which was launched in 2004, and also produces such well-known brands as Jose Cuervo, Bushmills Irish Whiskey, and the vodka Three Olives. The Tincup brand is currently distilled in Indiana, but sent to the Centennial State where it is cut with Colorado water. The project has been embraced by town leaders in Black Hawk, whose city council has also voted to annex some 221 acres to the southeast of the town that will serve as the new home to the distillery and resort. Altogether, the project is expected to cost at least $50 million to build. But opposition in the form of a lawsuit has come from the town of Central City, less than 2 miles to the northwest of Black Hawk. Central City officials claim that by annexing the property for the distillery and resort, Black Hawk is violating a 20 year-old agreement between the two towns limiting annexations for the purpose of only new home or golf course construction. That suit has now been filed in the Gilpin County Court in Central City. Both Black Hawk and Central City, with populations of around 120 and just under 800 people respectively, revived their economies beginning in the 1990s once gaming was approved state-wide. Black Hawk now has just under twenty casinos, while Central City features half a dozen. It is not known when the Gilpin County Court will rule on the Central City litigation. By Garry Boulard Plans have been announced for the construction of a new charter elementary school that will go up on currently vacant desert land in Buckeye, Arizona. The non-profit Edkey, Incorporated, which is based in nearby Mesa, says it wants to build what it calls a “high-performing” school on just under 9 acres southwest of the intersection of Interstate 10 and Verrado Way. Earlier this year Edkey purchased the site, which is within the larger 63-acre Buckeye Parkway Center business park, for just under $3 million. The company, which is also known as Sequoia Charter Schools, already has 14 other schools in full operation, primarily in central and southern Arizona. Late last year Edkey announced plans to build a 14,000 square-foot addition to its Sequoia Pathway Academy campus in Maricopa. As designed, the new school will be built to service students both in Buckeye and Verrado, some 12 miles to the northeast. The new Buckeye school comes just months after the Census Bureau called the town one of the fastest growing in the nation, with an 8.5 percent population increase adding 8,000 new residents to the previously reported 74,300. Those same statistics, according to the newspaper West Valley News, show that at least a third of Buckeye’s population today is made up of people under the age of 19. By Garry Boulard Just three months after the Niwot, Colorado-based Lucky’s Market announced it was closing more than two dozen of its stores nationally, plans are underway to reconfigure some those sites. Known for its organic food offerings, Lucky’s enjoyed more than a decade of rapid growth, with stores opening in some ten states, primarily in the West and South. The loss of financial support from the Kroger supermarket chain late last year prompted Lucky’s to drastically decrease its physical presence, eventually closing 32 of its 39 stores. As part of a court-supervised proceeding, Lucky’s has now auctioned off 23 of its stores, as well as the company’s distribution center, to several different grocery store chains. The company will keep running six of its outlets, including one in North Boulder and another in Fort Collins. Bidders for the other Lucky’s sites include Dollar General; the Aldi Supermarket Company of Essen, Germany; and the Lakeland, Florida-based Publix Super Markets. Analysts say the process of physically reconverting the roughly 30,000 square foot Lucky’s stores in Longmont, Wheat Ridge, and South Boulder, Colorado could be underway by summer. By Garry Boulard In an effort to jumpstart a project that has beguiled local officials for more than a decade, the City of Albuquerque has issued a call for developers to submit Expressions of Interest in the redevelopment of a portion of the massive downtown Albuquerque Rail Yards. That portion is confined to the 1.1-acre north entrance of the site, and according to the city’s official invitation, comprises “one phase of the larger 27-acre Rail Yard redevelopment project.” The document, issued by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency, also notes that the entrance should provide “street level interest that relates to the look and feel of the residential community on the west side of 2nd Street and draws people into the Rail Yards property.” The Railyards is the former home to the Atlantic and Pacific railroad. The sprawling site was purchased by the City in 2007 and has been the subject of numerous studies and public input regarding what its eventual redevelopment should look like. The site is dominated by several century-old structures, including the 165,000 square-foot former railroad machine shop. Ideas have most frequently centered on building new affordable housing at the site, along with a combination of both office and retail space. Previous estimates have pegged the total redevelopment of the site as a process that could take more than a decade to be fully realized. The submission deadline for the Requests for Expressions of Interest is June 26. By Garry Boulard A public ad hoc committee in Las Cruces is expected to present its findings later this year regarding the revitalization and development of the city’s historic El Paseo Corridor. The committee, recently formed by the Las Cruces City Council, will specifically look at issues regarding how to make the well-used corridor more pedestrian friendly, while also addressing vacant properties and abandoned buildings that are also a part of the corridor. Spanning just under 2 miles from downtown Las Cruces to the main campus of New Mexico State University, the El Paseo Road slices through a neighborhood that, according to city documents, is the home to more than 300 businesses of varying sizes. City officials have long argued that the area is prime for new affordable housing development, as well as the building of retail and restaurant space. The possibility of a trolley line connecting the central business district to the NMSU campus, and running up and down El Paseo, has also been discussed. The possibility of creating a new Tax Increment Development District that would use gross receipts tax financing to pay for public infrastructure in the vicinity has also been aired. In his State of the City address earlier this year, Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima remarked that he could “easily imagine a Paseo through the heart of the city, a well-landscaped thoroughfare with wide sidewalks for pedestrians, designated bike lanes, and leafy trees and shade structures along the way.” The ad hoc committee is expected to conduct public input meetings regarding the future of the El Paseo corridor before sending its findings to the city’s Transportation, Sustainability, and Infrastructure Policy Review Committee. From there, the group’s report will go to the Las Cruces City Council for possible action. By Garry Boulard The Washington-based National Association of Homebuilders has issued an advisory asking all of the nation’s residential construction companies to spend a minimum of 10 minutes on Thursday, April 16 to learn about COVID-19 workplace safety procedures. What is being called the COVID-19 Jobsite Safety Stand Down will be designed, according to a statement from the NAHB, to “educate workers on what they should do to keep themselves safe from coronavirus and to help ‘flatten the curve’ for everyone.” The Stand Down event comes as the industry organization has also issued its Comprehensive Preparedness and Response Plan for Construction that provides step-by-step instructions both for employers and employees. In a statement released by Rod Matuga, vice-president for labor, safety, and health issues with the NAHB, it was additionally noted that the Department of Homeland Security has deemed homebuilding as an “essential infrastructure business,” allowing most construction projects to continue despite the COVID-19 outbreak. The NAHB Stand Down comes on the heels of a similar event sponsored on April 9 by the Associated General Contractors of America asking construction companies nationally to participate in COVID-19 safety instruction events. The AGC has estimated that at least 31,000 construction workers took part in the event. As part of a Stand Down event in Colorado, Michael Gifford, the chief executive officer of the AGC in the Centennial State, noted that the action was also designed to “inform the public at large, as well as government officials, that the construction industry can operate safely during this crisis.” By Garry Boulard The University of Arizona has issued a Request for Proposals for the creation of cyber range wall at its Sierra Vista campus. The project will belong to the cyber operations program within UA’s College of Applied Science and Technology, one of only a handful of such programs in the country focusing on offensive and defensive cyber security. What is officially called the Bluetooth Radio Cyber Range Wall will see the installation of a system allowing for communication devoid of cables or wires. Such systems rely on short-range radio frequency and any device that incorporates communications technology used to detect, respond to, and prevent cyber threats. According to the RFP issued by the school, the range wall will provide a visual context of how networks work using background graphics, and will measure no less than 6 feet by 9 feet and no larger than 8 feet by 12 feet. The structure must also be deep enough to allow for power supplies to be hidden internally within the wall. The RFP has a submission deadline of April 27. By Garry Boulard |
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