A building in northeast Albuquerque that has long served as the home to an FM radio station is on the market for just under $750,000.

The two-story Class B structure, located at 3801 Eubank Boulevard NE, was built in 1990 and measures around 7,300 square feet.

Radio station KFLQ, which is one of the stations making up the Tucson-based Family Life Radio network, has been a regular tenant in the structure for several decades. That network launched with one station in Michigan in 1966 and now has around 40 stations, with a large presence in the southwest.

The building is also the home to a pediatric ophthalmology service, as well as the eyewear shop Optimum Optical.
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Located on a six-lane portion of Eubank populated mostly with one-story office and retail buildings, the building is listed with the Albuquerque-based real estate brokerage firm Roger Cox and Associates.

​By Garry Boulard

A new survey, which could serve as an indicator of future home-buying patterns, reveals that the average member of the Millennial Generation is in debt to the tune of nearly $120,000.

The report, published by the real estate site Real Estate Witch, indicates that upwards of 90% of those born between 1981 and 1996 have just over $5,300 in credit card debt, and student loan debts of just under $127,000.

Despite the significant differences between those two figures, more Millennials, at 67%, owed money on credit cards, with 48% saying student loans comprised their number one debt.

The report also points to differences in average student loan debt of $111,000 for Millennials in their late 30s and early 40s, while those in their late 20s and early 30s, have an average student debt load of $135,000.

The report, based on interviews with around 1,000 Millennials, additionally reveals that some 53% currently own a home. But of those who do not own a residence, a significant 30% said they doubted if they would ever have enough money to buy one.

“Millennials who spend a significant portion of their monthly income on rent have little left over to save for a down payment in increasingly expensive homes,” the report notes, adding: “As interest rates rise, making borrowing more expensive, homeownership becomes even less attainable.”

Although Millennials on average have just under $50,000 in savings, up to 41% said they feel “pessimistic” about their finances.

In pointing to their biggest financial regrets, not saving enough money, going into debt, and not investing sooner, were named as the three biggest things that Millennials say they wished they had avoided.
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Despite stated fears about the cost of owning a home, only 12% regarded home ownership as a source of regret.

By Garry Boulard

An eight-story office building in downtown Denver built in 1906 may be on the verge of being repurposed as an apartment complex.

The 96,200 square-foot Symes Building is located at 820 16th Street and has long provided office space for various businesses and public agencies.

Plans submitted to the city by a business entity called Massandra Harbor George Owner, which is listed as a foreign limited-liability company, envisions the building of 96 new apartments in the structure, with ground floor retail space.

The company purchased the building in late 2018 for $24.5 million.

One of the first steel-framed buildings in Denver, the Symes structure, designed by the New York architectural firm of Hunt & Hunt, was perhaps most known to local residents for the Woolworth’s department store that for decades was located on its first floor.

The structure additionally features a marble lobby topped by an ornate domed ceiling.
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Located on Denver’s popular 16th Street Pedestrian Mall, the building, now officially called The George, is classified as a Class B structure, and is listed with the Downtown Denver Historical District.

​By Garry Boulard

The tallest building in Las Cruces has been purchased for just under $9 million.

Located at 506 Main Street, what is officially known as the Las Cruces Tower is a 10-story modernistic structure completed in 1966 that has long served as an office building for several companies and businesses.

The company Electronic Caregiver, which has used the upper floors of the building for its headquarters since 2017, purchased the structure from the loan company Coronado Finance.

Electronic Caregiver specializes in advance remote patient monitoring and tele-health, among other services.

The Main Street building encompasses nearly 90,000 square feet and is classified as a Class B building. According to the Las Cruces Sun News, plans are underway to renovate the building’s spacious first floor lobby and upgrades its bathrooms.

It is also expected that a health center will be built in the building’s basement.
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The structure was originally opened as the First National Bank Tower and has retained its status as the city’s tallest building ever since. The next tallest structure is the 7-story Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces at 705 S. Telshor Boulevard, which went up in 1986.

By Garry Boulard

Prices for most construction materials have seen significant increases since the spring of 2020, according to a comprehensive report just issued by the Associated General Contractors of America.

The report, 2022 Construction Inflation Alert, notes that gypsum building materials and plastic construction products have recorded increases of 44% and 55% respectively.

Other materials, after initial 2020 and 2021 increases, have in recent months decreased somewhat, although still higher than where they were when Covid-19 first hit: steel mill products are up by a significant 124%, but that’s down from the 140% increased recorded late last year.

Lumber and plywood products, meanwhile, have been on a particularly uneven ride, increasing by 120% as of early last year, then dropping to a less than 40% increase in late 2021. As of last month, lumber and plywood were up by 61% over the spring of 2020.

The report notes that besides the price of materials, supply chain issues have been endlessly challenging builders, beginning in early 2020 when “factories in China and northern Italy were shut down, causing shortages of items as diverse as elevator parts, floor tiles, and kitchen appliances.”

As of early this year, “another round of covid-related restrictions in China disrupted production and shipping from that country.”

Meanwhile, says the report, a combination of Russia’s attack on Ukraine and international countermeasures against Russia has resulted in a decrease in such items as “pig iron used in steelmaking, neon for lasers used in semiconductor manufacturing and other applications, and Ukrainian clay used in producing ceramic tile exported to the U.S. from Italy and Spain.”

The report additionally notes that contractors have been hit with hourly wage increases of 17.5% as of June, even as job openings have seen a 39% increase from May of last year to May of this year.

Against such headwinds, the AGC report recommends that contractors should “provide project owners with timely and credible third-party information about changes in relevant material costs and supply-chain snarls that may impact the cost and completion time for a project that is underway or for which a bid has already been submitted.”

The report additionally suggested that owners and bidders may want to consider including price-adjustment clauses in contracts, while also discussing the “best timing for ordering materials and components.”
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“Buying items earlier than usual can provide protection against cost increases,” the report adds.

​By Garry Boulard

Two unique front retail spaces and a back-office building are being sold all as part of one package in the East Pearl neighborhood of downtown Boulder.

The two retail properties are located at 1833 and 1837 Pearl Street, on a block populated with one and two-story commercial structures.

The property at 1833 measures just under 1,500 square feet is currently the home of a flower store called Fiori Flowers, and features exposed brick walls, a high ceiling, and floor to ceiling windows.

The 1837 property is just under 2,500 square feet and is the current home to the Mateo restaurant, also with an exposed brick wall, semi-circular bar, and covered outdoor patio.

The back property, to the rear of the 1833 Pearl property, is a Class C space measuring around 880 square feet.

Both Pearl properties, built in the early 1950s, have housed a variety of businesses and retail operations through the decades.

Listing agency for the three properties is the Dean Callan & Company of Boulder.
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Downtown Boulder in recent years has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, with more than 250 restaurant and retail operations. According to a recent report, what is called the downtown “walkable/bikeable captive market” area has experienced a 1.3$ annual population growth in the last decade.

​By Garry Boulard

An effort is underway to restore and renovate one of the most historic churches in El Paso.

The red brick Sacred Heart Church is located at the intersection of S. Oregon Street and E. 4th Street and was built in 1923. It is part of a complex of several structures constructed between the 1890s and 1920s.

Referenced by the El Paso Herald Post as the “most iconic building in the Segundo Barrio,” the church, long in need of structural upgrades, is now the subject of an effort designed to raise enough funds to pay for that work.

That effort, called “Restore Sacred Heart Church,” is additionally seeking tax credits and grants to make the restoration possible.

An executive committee tasked chaired by Father Rafael Garcia, pastor of the parish, and Max Grossman, an associate professor of art history at the University of Texas at El Paso, has been formed to spearhead the restoration effort.

The project is expected to see the installation of new air conditioning and heating systems and the upgrading of bathrooms to make them Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.

It is thought that it will cost as much as $30 million to pay for the work, $500,000 of which has already been raised. A group called the Partners for Sacred Places, based in Philadelphia, has put up half of that $500,000 figure. To date, that group has provided funding for the restoration of more than 625 historic churches and chapels.
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Tax credits to the tune of $650,000 may also be secured for the project from the State of Texas.

By Garry Boulard

In a move to speed up and make more efficient the nation’s supply chain, the Department of Transportation has announced new regulations designed to harmonize U.S. shipping laws with international standards.

The regulations are coming out of the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, with the stated goal of streamlining the importation of any number of hazardous materials.

Those materials include components used in manufacturing, lithium batteries, and medical supplies.

In a statement, Tristan Brown, PHMSA Deputy Administrator, said the new regulations will “improve supply chains, reduce prices for consumers, and produce environmental benefits without sacrificing safety.”

Transportation Department Officials say that because the new rules will result in the transport of more goods in fewer trips they will also reduce green house gas emissions.
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The harmonization regulations have been under review in Washington since last summer and were open to public comment for a period of 60 days after their original publication in the Federal Register.

​By Garry Boulard

A Taiwan-based company specializing in the supply of high purity electronic chemicals has closed on the purchase of more than 50 acres in Casa Grande, Arizona for the purpose of building a new processing facility.

The company, Kanto-PPC, is a chemical supplier for companies in both Asia and Europe, as well as the Taiwan Semiconductor Company, which is in the process of building a multi-billion facility in metro Phoenix.

The Taoyuan, Taiwan-based Kanto-PPC purchased the land at the vacant southeast corner of Arizona State Route 84 and Burris Road. The deal entailed the purchase of two different parcels, one measuring just over 26 acres, and the other at 24 acres, for a combined price of $3.6 million.

The electronic chemicals that Kanto-PPC produces are used in the processes of both optoelectronics and semiconductor industries.

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company announced plans to build a massive new facility on a 3,700-acre site to the north of Phoenix in the fall of 2020. Work on that facility is currently underway.
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Last summer the Taiwan-USA Industrial Cooperation Promotion Office and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding designed to foster closer business relations between Taiwan and southern Arizona.

​By Garry Boulard

A move is underway to restore the oldest water treatment facility in Grand Junction, completed in the summer of 1939 partly with a combination of funds from the New Deal’s Public Works Administration and city revenue bonds.

The restoration of the facility, distinguished by its Art Deco design features, is expected to cost around $200,000 to complete. In response, the City of Grand Junction is now in the process of applying for $150,000 in support from the Colorado State Historical Fund.

That fund, supported by gaming tax revenue, has to date supported historic building renovation efforts in all 64 counties of the Centennial State, with a total dollar value of nearly $316 million.

According to city documents, the two-story brick and concrete plant features a large steel casement window above the entry doors and 12-panel steel windows on the second floor. The building also features large interior steel doors.

Plans to restore the water treatment plant, which was decommissioned in 1969, are expected to be the subject of public input meetings in Grant Junction in the next several weeks.
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It is thought that restoration of the plant could lead to its reuse as a water museum and education center. In a statement, Troy Reynolds, chairman of the city’s Historic Preservation Board, said the restored plant will provide an opportunity for future generations in the city to “understand and appreciate the early challenges of delivering clean water to the community.”

​By Garry Boulard