New industrial space measuring nearly 84,000 square feet could see construction later this year on the south side of Albuquerque. The project will go up on a currently vacant site at 3750 Prince Street SE and will feature drive-in doors, with the 32-foot clear ceilings making up the interior of the structure. The site is roughly 6 miles to the south of downtown Albuquerque in a part of the city that has seen previous warehouse development, including the building of the large wholesale pet food distributor called the Rio Grande Service Center. To be developed by the Albuquerque-based Cauwels Investments LLC, the speculation building is partly in response to a growing demand in the metro area for more industrial space. The planned structure, described as a “state of the art” building, will most likely be used by a single distribution company. By Garry Boulard
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Drive-Through Grocery Store Wants to Build New Locations in Tucson and Larger Southern Arizona8/20/2021 A grocery store chain based in Coconut Grove, Florida that already has a large network of locations throughout the South is making plans to build a series of new outlets in southern Arizona, with the first store opening early next year in Tucson. Originally launched during the Great Depression as the Land O’Sun Dairies, the company became the Farm Stores in 1957 and has a unique business model: it sells groceries, primarily dairy and baked goods, only on a drive-thru basis. With stores also clustered on the upper East coast, Farm Store’s locations typically look like small barns and feature double drive-thru lanes. Farm Stores, which currently has around 70 outlets nationally, earlier said that it wants to build up to 600 additional stores across the country in the next decade. The company’s westward expansion could see the building and opening of as many as 50 separate locations just in Arizona. Those stores are typically rectangular-shaped and measure around 600 to 650 square feet. By Garry Boulard Although single-family home prices across the country have seen double-digit increases, jumping by some 23% in the last year, the rate of the increase may soon be slowing down.
That, according to industry analysts, is because homebuilders, even while challenged by a lack of workers and supply chain issues, have been working at an unprecedented pace to keep up with demand. According to the National Association of Realtors, the price increases have been seen across the country and in 94% of all metropolitan markets. But at the same time, the industry has also seen a 3.3% increase in the number of unsold homes. “While a full-on celebration might be too soon, prospective homebuyers can breathe a little easier, based on predictions from real estate experts,” notes Forbes. The publication continues: “Prices are beginning to decelerate in some areas as more inventory has become available for single-family homes.” In a statement, Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, remarked: “There are signs of more supply reaching the market and some tapering of the demand.” “The housing market looks to move from ‘super-hot’ to ‘warm’ with markedly slower gains,” Yun continued. For all of that, realtors have enjoyed a wild ride this year: according to the NAR survey, the average sale price of a single-family home has jumped in the last twelve months from $291,100 to $357,900. The increases were particularly great in specific growth areas such as Tucson, which saw a 32.6% jump, and Boulder, Colorado, up by 37.7%. Region-wise, prices saw their biggest increases in the Northeast, at just under 22% and the South, with a 21% jump. The West was close behind, seeing a 20.9% increase since the spring of 2020, followed by the Midwest with a 17.1% jump. By Garry Boulard An existing warehouse in Denver’s River North Art District may soon be demolished to make way for the construction of a new apartment complex. The company Wood Partners wants to build a nearly 500,000 square foot structure that will go up at 3600 Wynkoop Street near a commuter rail station in a part of the city that has seen a fair amount of new apartment construction. As proposed, the complex would see the building of just over 400 residential units, along with 9,900 square feet of retail space. Some 20 of the built units will be designated as affordable housing. The existing one-story warehouse, which measures around 38,000 square feet, was built in 2001. Plans for the project have been submitted to the City of Denver and are currently under review. If all goes well, work at the one-acre site may launch at the end of next year. Based in Atlanta, Wood Partners is extensively involved in multifamily and office projects across the country. In the last few months, the company has developed new multi-family projects in North Carolina, Texas, Florida, and California. By Garry Boulard After months of public debate, the way has been cleared for the construction of a new nearly $170 million power plant in El Paso. Officials with the El Paso Electric company and a coalition of environment groups have come to an agreement that will put an end to challenges to the project, allowing for work on the northeast El Paso site to begin soon. In so doing, the company has committed itself to not build any additional natural gas units between now and 2025. Opposition to what is officially called the Newman 6 plant has been constant since the project was initially announced. Several groups, including the Sierra Club and the Chaparral Coalition for Community Health, challenged both the need for the new facility as well the pending Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approval of an air quality permit for the project. The agreement will allow El Paso Electric to complete the permitting process for the plant, with construction beginning perhaps early next year. As proposed, the 228-megawatt natural gas unit will be designed to replace three other units, Newman 1 & 2 and Rio Grande 7, that are more than 60 years old. By Garry Boulard Although the Delta variant of Covid 19 gives every indication of being as widespread and stubborn as the earlier version of the pandemic, how it will affect the national economy remains unclear. So says Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in remarks delivered during a town hall meeting in Washington with educators and students. While acknowledging that the pandemic remains a force, and “that is likely to continue to be the case for a while,” Power said the lessons of the last 17 months, since Covid 19’s outbreak, have not been lost. “People and businesses have improvised and learned to adapt, to live their lives despite Covid,” the chairman remarked. While the national response to the Delta variant may be less acute than the initial response to Covid 19, Powell nevertheless made sure to emphasize that it’s “not clear whether the Delta strain will have important effects on the economy.” Continues Powell: “While more people are getting vaccinated, the pace of vaccination has slowed. A couple of months ago, we were ahead of many other similar countries in vaccination. Now, we’re falling behind, and one result you’re seeing is in the current outbreak of the Delta strain that we’re seeing in some parts of the country.” Because the economy has been running so strong since the national reopening earlier this spring, Powell added that that he is not convinced that the Delta variant will ultimately do much damage. In fact, the Federal Reserve is currently forecasting a strong last quarter for 2021, with Powell remarking that many companies across the country “have adapted their business models to the new world,” and are otherwise enduring. According to the just-released minutes of Fed’s Open Market Committee, employment growth is likely to fuel the national economy for the rest of the year, with inflation pegged to decline. In an additional sign of the Fed’s confidence that the national economy is recovering, the minutes also show a determination to gradually reduce asset purchases that were originally used at the beginning of the pandemic to prop up the economy. Last year the Fed purchased a monthly average of $80 billion in Treasury securities and another $40 billion in mortgage-based securities. In so doing, the Fed helped to reduce long-term interest rates. By Garry Boulard The next step in what could be the construction of a multi-million dollar soccer stadium in downtown Albuquerque has been taken.
Members of the Albuquerque City Council have voted in favor of putting on this November’s ballot a $50 million bond proposal that, if passed, would be used for the construction of the multipurpose stadium. The $50 million will not cover the total estimated construction costs of the facility, which have been estimated at as much as $70 million, prompting supporters of the project to say that they will seek additional funds from other sources. If built, the stadium would be the home to the Albuquerque-based New Mexico United soccer team, which was formed three years ago and plays most of its games in the city’s Isotopes Park. A consultant’s study completed earlier this summer recommended that consideration be given to a stadium with anywhere from 10,000 to 12,000 seats. That study also suggested two downtown sites for a facility that will additionally host high school sporting events, music concerts, and other special events. The site for the stadium will only be announced after one or several public input meetings. Crucial to the debate surrounding the possible construction of the stadium has been the question of whether it will be supported by area residents. New Mexico United Soccer officials have pointed out that the anywhere from 13,000 to 15,000 people have regularly attended the team’s Isotopes Park games. In 2020, members of the New Mexico State Legislature approved more than $4 million in funding for the project to be used primarily for land acquisition. By Garry Boulard Plans are underway for the renovation of a much-used facility that is a part of the Los Lunas public school system. Work renovating the Middle School, located at 423 Main Street NE, will include the replacement of the lighting system and floor and ceiling finishes. The project additionally includes a roof deck replacement as well as the installation of new drain piping and replacement of mechanical units and ducts in the school’s locker rooms. Plans also call for the replacement of an existing metal building at the site, and installation of new sidewalks and curbing at the site’s north parking lot. The Middle School is one of 15 school comprising the Los Lunas Public Schools district, serving around 8,500 students. Plans for the Middle School renovation come just as the district is in the early stages of another renovation project: the building of a new Peralta Elementary School, located at 3645 New Mexico State Road 47. That project will most likely get underway next summer, with a projected late 2024 completion date. The school district’s enrollment has increased at the same time that larger Los Lunas has seen its population grow from around 6,000 in the 1990s to more than 16,000 today. By Garry Boulard Construction workers continue to log lower vaccination rates than workers in other industries, according to a new survey released by the Silver Spring, Maryland group CPWR—The Center for Construction Research and Training.
In conjunction with the Delphia Group at Carnegie Mellon University, the CPWR study shows that while an average of 82% of workers in all other fields report being vaccinated, that number drops to 57% for those in the construction industry. At the same time, while 16% of workers in all other industries said they were hesitant to get vaccinated, 39% of those working in construction felt the same way. CPWR’s numbers also reveal a variety of reasons for vaccine hesitancy within the industry, with 56% of respondents in mid-July indicating that they didn’t trust vaccines. That numbers has increased from February, when it stood at 44%. A similarly large number said they distrusted vaccines in general, a number that has also been on the rise since earlier this year. Also, of those surveyed, nearly 55% said they were worried about the possible side effects of getting a vaccine. A smaller number, at 23.5%, indicated that they thought vaccines were ineffective, a number that has remained fairly static throughout the year. The CPWR study shows worker vaccinations rates to be somewhat high in the Southwest, ranging between 51% and 55%; lower in the South; and substantially greater, at 71% and 69%, in California and New York. As of June, CPWR showed 55% of all construction workers were vaccinated in Arizona and 51% in Colorado. The latest figures for New Mexico were recorded in March, showing 42.1% of all construction workers had been vaccinated. Despite the lower numbers when compared to other industries, vaccination rates within the construction industry have been on the rise throughout the year, from 1.8% in January to 57% last month. The construction industry vaccination rate, says the Data Digest, which is published by the Associated General Contractors of America, reveal near-term challenges as “governments and private owners increasingly impose vaccination and testing mandates for anyone on their premises.” By Garry Boulard Plans are being discussed for the construction of a training facility in Steamboat Springs, Colorado that would serve the members of two local athletic groups. As envisioned, the facility would be built on a plot of land to the rear of the Howelsen Ice Arena, which is located at 285 Howelsen Parkway on the southeast side of town. The site is owned by Steamboat Springs and currently used for storage purposes by the city’s parks and recreation department. If built, the new training center would be used by both the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, as well as the Steamboat Springs Youth Hockey Association. The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club is a non-profit providing sports and youth development programing and wants to build a facility with enough room for such amenities as an airbag ramp hump and trampoline that would be used for training purposes. A specific size for the new facility has not yet been announced, although it is known that a 1,350 square foot training center currently operated by the sports club is thought to be too small. Members of the Steamboat Springs City Council have now directed officials with the sports club to work with the city’s parks and recreation department in order to come up with more details regarding the project’s projected size, cost, and usage. The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club was launched in 1914 and has, to date, helped train nearly 100 Olympic athletes. By Garry Boulard |
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