A plan that has been in the talking stage for nearly two decades appears to be on the verge of becoming reality with the announcement by the Gila River Casinos that it will build a new large casino some 10 miles to the south of Chandler.

The enterprise group of the Gila River Indian Community, Gila River Casinos, says the new casino will go up on currently vacant land near the intersection of Hunt Highway and Gilbert Road.

It is expected that it will cost upwards of $100 million to build the new casino, and that it may take around two years to complete the project.

Gila River Casinos currently operates casinos in Lone Butte and Laveen. The 10,000 square foot Wild Horse Pass casino was opened by the Gila River Casinos in the fall of 2009.

In a statement, Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community, said the new casino will bring “additional revenue, security, and critical services to community members.”

The path was cleared for the construction of a new casino as a result of discussions earlier this year pertaining to the legalization of sports betting in Arizona.

In May it was announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 16 tribal groups, and the State of Arizona had come to a series of agreements that included allowing for 55 new tribal casinos in the state.

According to reports, Gila River Casinos is currently in the preliminary phase of building the new casino, with plans just announced to soon sign on an architect for the project.

It is not yet known when exactly construction on the new casino will begin.
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Last year, Gila River Casinos started work on the expansion of its Wild Horse Pass casino property, a $143 million project featuring an 11-story hotel tower.

By Garry Boulard

Legislation working its way through Congress would commit around $5 billion in federal funding to cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells.

The Revive Economic Growth and Reclaim Orphaned Wells bill, introduced by New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Lujan and North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer, would, if approved, provide nearly $4.3 billion for the clean up of all orphaned wells on both state and private lands.

An additional $400 million would go for orphaned well cleanup work on tribal lands.

In a statement, Lujan said communities across the country are “suffering from harmful methane emissions that are released by thousands of orphaned oil and gas wells.”

According to sources, there are currently more than 56,000 documented inactive orphaned wells in the U.S.

A just-released report by the National Parks Conservations Association pinpoints nearly 32,000 such wells within a 30-mile radius of national park sites.

Along with emitting methane, such wells have the potential of seeping into area groundwater.

Besides its environmental goals, the legislation is also being regarded as a jobs measure because it would allow oil and gas workers to return to one-time job sites once the old oil and gas wells have been plugged.

The legislation would additionally create a $150 million grant program to be administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and designed to help tribal governments address the orphaned well challenges in their communities.

Earlier this spring, the Western Governors’ Association gave its backing to the legislation, noting that although many states in the West are already engaged in oil and gas well plugging endeavors, “this work could be significantly accelerated with federal assistance.”

​The REGROW Act of 2021 is currently under review in a subcommittee of the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

By Garry Boulard

Work could begin later this year on the upgrading of a popular and well-used recreation center on the southeast side of El Paso.

The city and county of El Paso has issued a Request for Proposals for a series of improvements to the Pavo Real Recreation Center, which is located at 9301 Alameda Avenue in a mostly residential part of the city.

The work will include electrical and mechanical system upgrades, as well as putting in a new roof and roof drains.

The center is also expected to see the installation of replacement piping for modern HVAC equipment, and new drinking fountains.

The exterior of the facility, meanwhile, will take in irrigation, planting, and flexible paving work. 

The project has an estimated price tag ranging between $1.2 million to just over $1.3 million.

Opened in 1977, the Paco Real Recreation Center was expanded in 1998 to serve area seniors.
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The RFP has a submission deadline of July 7.

​By Garry Boulard

Work may begin later this year on improvements to a walking, hiking, and biking trail located in a residential section on the northeast side of El Paso.

The Canterbury Trail project, beginning at the intersection of Ridgecrest Drive and N. Stanton Street, is expected to see the construction of a new walking trail made up of an asphalt pavement surface.

With an estimated project cost ranging between $1.3 million and $1.5 million, the project will also include a shaded gathering area, benches, and construction of a pre-fabricated pedestrian bridge.

Additional project details include landscaping with the installation of trees, as well as general irrigation improvements.

The Canterbury Trail will also see the installation of aesthetic bollard dark sky compliant lighting.

If all goes as planned, work on the Canterbury Trail will start in September, with a late February 2022 completion date.
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To date, El Paso has nearly two dozen linear walking trails of various lengths, not to mention loop trails in most of the city’s 220 parks.

​By Garry Boulard

Construction employment remains below where it was in the month before the Covid-19 outbreak, according to the most recent figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As of last month, 42 states are still not up to the construction employment levels reached in February of 2020, while 8 states have now exceeded those levels.

Not surprisingly, the country’s biggest states have continued to see the biggest construction job losses, with Texas off by 49,100 jobs; followed by New York, recording a decline of 45,200 jobs.

California came in third, with a total decline of 30,400 jobs since early 2020.

At the same time, Florida has now seen an increase of 3,700 jobs; followed by Michigan. with 1,600 new jobs; and Minnesota, with 1,200 new construction positions.

States in the West have generally remained on the downside, according to an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers done by the Associated General Contractors of America.

That analysis showed Arizona, which had 176,300 construction jobs in February 2020, now at 174,000; Colorado totals went from 179,300 to 171,500 during that same time period; while New Mexico charted a decline of just under 5,000 jobs, from 52,000 to 47,300 jobs.
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Looking at all industries, the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a gain of 559,000 new jobs last month nationally. According to the agency’s report the most “notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, in public and private education, and in health care and social assistance.”

By Garry Boulard

Upwards of 300 or more build-to-rent homes may see construction in northern Colorado if all goes according to plans announced by a developer based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Walton Global Holdings, a real estate asset management company, is plunging big time into the growing build-to-rent market, with a goal of eventually building some 2,500 units nationally.

The Colorado units are slated to go up in the towns of Lochbuie, Loveland, and Berthoud. The projects in all three locations will be part of much larger residential developments.

In a press release, the company said the initial construction is part of a longer-term vision for the company to grow its build-to-rent portfolio, with plans to build additional projects within a “network of more than 180 master planned communities and through new land acquisitions.”

The build-to-rent industry currently comprises around 5% of all homes being built nationally, but, according to Forbes, “It is growing rapidly and highlighting some important emerging trends in housing demand.”

Accordingly, some 60,000 such homes were built last year, with up to 80,000 homes forecast for construction before the end of this year.

The essence of the industry focuses on tenants who want something larger than the typical apartment, while also demanding a certain kind of flooring, counters, built-in appliances and other amenities.

Industry analysts say the market is particularly fueled by married members of the Millennial generation who are just beginning to have children and prefer homes to apartments.
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Tenants of such properties also tend to be more durable prospects for developers and investors for the simple reason that they stay in the build-to-rent homes longer than typical apartment dwellers.

By Garry Boulard

Up to $40 million is expected to be spent on the construction of new student housing that will belong to Colorado Mountain College.

The Glenwood Springs-based public college, which has eleven locations on the western side of Colorado, says it will build anywhere from 140 to 200 new housing units on five of those campuses.

The $40 million effort has now won the approval of school’s Board of Trustees.

The campuses targeted for new housing are located in the cities of Breckinridge, Edwards, Steamboat Springs and the Roaring Fork Valley.

On average, each of those campuses will see the construction of 35 to 40 housing units.

A press release issued by the school said that the campuses selected for the new housing were done so, owing to a combination of anticipated student demand and “escalating housing scarcity in these high-cost mountain resort communities.”

A third factor entering into the equation was the availability of land already owned by Colorado Mountain College in the selected locations.

In an interview with the Colorado Sun, Carrie Hauser, Colorado Mountain College’s president, remarked: “We won’t be solving the housing crisis, but we are taking a bite of the apple and contributing some relief.”

Plans call for a mix of both studio and one-bedroom apartments on the various campuses, with construction expected to begin either later this year or early next year.

If all goes as anticipated, the new housing units, which will largely be for the use of upper-division students, will be completed in time for the fall 2023 semester.
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Founded in 1967, Colorado Mountain College has a enrollment of around 5,700 students, along with an online campus registration of some 20,000 students.

By Garry Boulard

An agreement between the White House and U.S Senate calling for a $1.2 trillion, eight-year infrastructure bill is at long last on the verge of becoming reality.
The massive legislation includes $109 billion for road and bridge construction and upgrade projects; along with $66 billion for freight and passenger rail infrastructure; and just under $50 billion for public transit projects.
The nation’s airports are slated to receive $25 billion for a variety of facility projects, while ports and waterways are in line for $16 billion in funding.
A constant in the many versions of the infrastructure bill negotiated between the White House and Senate has been a commitment to funding for broadband construction, with both sides agreeing to a $65 billion price tag.
Negotiators were thrown off stride late last week when President Biden indicated that he would not sign the legislation unless Congress also approved a larger $4 billion social spending bill.
After lawmakers voiced objections to linking the two measures, the President issued a statement saying that his comments had “created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent.”
Lawmakers expressed relief in the wake of Biden’s statement, with Utah Senator Mitt Romney remarking on the television program State of the Union: “I take the President at his word.”
Romney added that if the one spending bill had been dependent upon the success of the other, it would have proven “very, very hard,” for the legislation to move forward.

By Garry Boulard

Plans are underway in Los Lunas for the construction of a new transit center that will belong to the Rio Metro Regional Transit system.

As planned, the one-story center will be specifically designed to house administrative offices and will go up on a 3-acre site close to the intersection of New Mexico State Road 47 and New Mexico State Road 6.

It is expected that the new facility will measure around 8,000 square feet and will also include storge space and a vehicle prep area.

Rio Metro has been wanting to build the Los Lunas facility for the better part of a decade, with funding for the two-phase project coming through a Federal Transit Administration grant secured two years ago.

Work on the two-phase project, which is being designed by Studio Southwest Architects of Albuquerque, is expected to launch in December with a fall 2022 completion date.

The second phase of the project will see the construction of a fueling station and two maintenance bays, as well as a general yard expansion.

The Rio Metro Regional Transit District is the regional transit provider for Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Valencia counties and operates a Los Lunas station stop located at 101 Courthouse Road SE, just over 2 miles to the west of Rio Metro’s new planned office facility.

​By Garry Boulard

A new police station may be in the future for the city of Belen, depending upon the results of a general obligation bond election in November.

Members of the Belen City Council have voted in favor of putting on the fall ballot a proposal that would allow the city to issue $2.5 million in GO bonds to pay for construction of the new station.

Five years ago, Belen voters approved a $4 million general obligation bond for the replacement, which has since been built, to the city’s 40 year-old fire station.

City officials have long expressed concerns about the condition of the current one-story Belen police station located at 607 Becker Avenue.

Besides lacking adequate space, the station has had some mold infestation problems and is burdened with an out of date electrical and plumbing system.
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Where exactly the new station will be built, has not yet been determined.

By Garry Boulard