An unusual listing is seeing nearly 500 acres of land in central New Mexico up for sale for just a few pennies south of $500,000. The massive stretch of land borders the Santa Fe National Forest, some 95 miles or so to the northeast of Albuquerque and 35 miles to the southwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico. The closest sign of civilization is the unincorporated town of Villanueva, with a general store, church, and post office, and population of around 200 people. As mentioned in an advertisement for the listing, the land includes an abundance of trees, open clearings, and a seasonal creek feeding into the Pecos River, which flows north to south. The property is accessed via San Miguel County Road B29A. The price of the land for so much acreage has prompted some comment: “500 acres of beautiful New Mexican land for less than the cost of 1 bedroom apartment in Manhattan,” exclaimed the site Unofficial Networks. “Incredible.” The property is being listed by the Sedona, Arizona-based Landio company. By Garry Boulard
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More than half of nearly 200 business economists surveyed in a recent industry poll say they are doubtful that the Federal Reserve is going to successfully reduce the nation’s inflation rate by the end of the year. The findings of the Economic Policy Survey, as published by the Washington-based National Association for Business Economics, indicate that 52% of respondents thought the idea of getting the inflation rate down to 8.5% was unrealistic. Even more, a strong 47% of the respondents said they thought a recession will be underway by either late this year or in the first quarter of 2023. Even more, just under 20% of the respondents said that they thought the country was already in a recession. Other respondents forecast a recession some ways down the road, with 20% seeing it taking place sometime in the second quarter of 2023. In a statement, David Altig, National Association for Business Economics president, said what he called the “split opinions” regarding when and if a recession will take place “suggests that there is less clarity than usual about the outlook.” Further poll results reveal that 59% of the polled respondents believe fiscal policy coming out of Washington should be focused more on robust economic growth in the “medium-to-long term,” while only 25% thought the emphasis should be placed on reducing the deficit and overall debt levels. Indicating a more activist approach, a commanding 76% of respondents said they were supportive of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act. An equally strong 69% had no problem with a minimum 15% corporate tax. Another large 63% said they were generally in favor of private-public investments, rebates, and subsidies designed to combat climate change. By Garry Boulard City officials in Aurora are looking over plans calling for the construction of a new 7-mile access road that would be designed to alleviate traffic feeding into the busy Denver International Airport. The project, which for the present is being called the Aerotropolis Parkway, would also be just under 2 miles to the east of the toll road Colorado E479. At present, the primary access road to the airport is the 30-year-old Pena Boulevard, a 14-mile S-curve route connecting Interstate 70 to the facility. The new route is envisioned as having six lanes and most likely no traffic lights. According to the publication Denver Gazette, the proposed road would “pass new communities along the corridor between the parkway’s route and the E-470 beltway.” Those communities, making up a large segment of the open land in Aurora to the east and south of the airport, are seeing the construction of upwards of 700 new homes either completed or under construction, with plans in the works for more than 12,000 homes in the future. Opened in 1995, the Denver International Airport is listed as the fifth busiest airport in the country and tenth largest in the world, serving more than 32.2 million passengers in just the first quarter of this year. By Garry Boulard A project calling for the construction of a new facility for go-kart fans in Albuquerque has secured initial approval. Members of the Albuquerque Environmental Planning Commission have now given their approval to a go-kart racing facility that will go up on a 24-acre site between Alexander Boulevard NE and Montano Road. The project, to be built by the Andretti Indoor Karting & Games company, which is headquartered in Orlando, would see the construction of a very large 95,000 square foot structure. As planned, the facility will also house food and event space, as well as room for laser tag and video games. Additional amenities: a mini-golf course, and bar. Andretti Indoor Karting currently has half a dozen up and running locations, and just recently announced plans to build its second metro Phoenix facility, measuring 96,000 square feet, in Chandler, Arizona. The company opened a 100,000 square foot facility in metro Dallas in 2020. The Andretti company was established in 2001 and is named in honor of racing legend Mario Andretti, who has been instrumental in the planning of each one of the go-kart facilities. By Garry Boulard Interest rates currently hovering in the 2.2% to 2.5% range could be up to 3.8% by the end of the year, with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warning that inflation is still not under control. Speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the Kansas City Fed’s annual policy forum, Powell remarked that “restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.” The Fed Chairman also noted that “while the lower inflation readings for July are welcome,” just a single month’s performance is not enough to convince members of the Federal Open Market Committee that the trend lines are substantially moving in the right direction. “Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone,” Powell continued. “In particular, without price stability, we will not achieve a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all.” Powell added: “The burdens of high inflation fall heaviest on those who are least able to bear them.” In analyzing Powell’s remarks, the publication Forbes said, “For investors, this means that there is likely to be a lot of central bank intervention to come, with the aim of getting inflation back under control.” Noting that the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,000 points in the aftermath of Powell’s speech, the Wall Street Journal said the chairman’s remarks “disappointed investors who had hoped inflation had peaked and the Fed would shift from raising rates to lowering them sometime next year.” Last month, the Consumer Price Index pegged the national inflation rate at 8.5%. While that is a decrease over June’s numbers, when the rate had reached its highest in decades at 9.0%, it is still significantly up from last year at this time when the rate stood at 5.3%. By Garry Bolard Plans are now fully underway for the construction of a bike and pedestrian bridge that will cross a riverbed in south Phoenix. The city has received support to the tune of $25 million as part of a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity federal grant. The bridge will be aligned with the mostly residential 3rd Street and is a part of a long-desired plan to create a non-vehicle path between the south part of the city and downtown Phoenix. According to a press release issued by the City of Phoenix, the new structure will “provide residents with increased recreational and exercise options with its proximity to the trails within the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area.” The project will see the construction of a 12- to 18-foot-wide walking and biking crossway, with concrete sidewalks, gutters, and street lighting. Curb ramps in the project will be built for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. Full scale planning for the project is expected to be underway this fall. By Garry Boulard Planning is now underway for the long-delayed expansion of the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry which connects El Paso with Juarez. The project late last year secured $600 million in federal funding via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The bridge, located some 3 miles to the east of downtown El Paso, was completed and opened in 1967. It annually serves more than 3.8 million crossings, a number that has been steadily increasing over the last decade. Local officials say the bridge is not adequate for current traffic volumes. An updating project would include modernizing the facility’s technology and implementing carbon reduction strategies. That technology will specifically be used by the US Customs and Border Protection agency to detect drug trafficking and increase overall security. According to a press release issued earlier this year by the General Services Administration, the project will also “improve traffic flow and decrease wait times.” At the time of the bridge’s opening in the fall of 1967, President Lyndon Johnson met Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz at the halfway point for a well-choreographed handshake. An exact timetable for when actual work on the bridge will begin remains to be announced. By Garry Boulard Despite continuing labor shortages and supply chain issues, the value of construction starts nationally saw a 17% increase from July of 2021 to this last July, according to a new report released by the construction data collection firm ConstructConnect. An increase of 16%, according to the report, is also seen for the entire 7-month period beginning in January of this year, over January to July of last year. While nonresidential building starts saw a substantive 37% jump in July 2022 over July 2021, nothing compares with the increase in the industrial/manufacturing sector, recording a massive 320% increase for the last 12 months. In this category, road projects were up by 23%, with water and sewage projects seeing a marginally smaller increase at 22%. The value of bridge construction starts, meanwhile, saw a 44% jump, while dam, canal, and marine industry work was up 17%. After compiling a series of increases in recent months, the power infrastructure was down by 27%, but at the same time airport projects from July of last year to this past July were up by 31%. Based in Cincinnati, Construct Connect number crunches the total estimated dollar value as well as square footage of starting projects nationally in a dozen key categories on a monthly basis. By Garry Boulard Plans are now near the agreement stage for the construction of a new golf course in Aurora, Colorado. The project will be a part of a massive new master planned residential community seeing the construction of some 1,700 homes on a 900-acre site. The selling point for the Prairie Point community is both its promised luxury, multi-story homes, as well as the advertised green and open spaces. But officials with the community, located at Parker Road and toll road E-470, have long wanted to also build an 18-hole golf course, despite some local opposition. For years the City of Aurora has been trying to put a limitation on courses requiring vast amounts of water usage. But now Mayor Mike Kaufman has reached an interim settlement with the Salt Lake City-based-Oakwood Homes, the developer of the community, that will allow the project to proceed, albeit with a decreased amount of water to be released by the city. City officials and residents are hoping that the agreement will signal the end of an era of golf course development in Aurora. A headline in the Denver Post said the Aurora/Oakwood agreement “Could be the City’s Last.” The agreement will see a reduction in the amount of water that will be released to irrigate the golf course, a reduction that Oakwood has said it can live with. If all goes as planned, home construction in the Prairie Point community could begin this fall, with work on the golf course itself slated to launch sometime in the spring of 2023. By Garry Boulard Funding has been secured for the massive buildout of a semiconductor campus based in Chandler, Arizona. The Intel Corporation has announced that it has reached an agreement with the Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management to substantially expand the technology company’s longstanding Ocotillo campus. Together, the two companies are committed to spending upwards of $30 billion on the project, with Intel responsible for 51% of that investment, and Brookfield, one of the largest alternative investment management companies in the world, kicking in 49%. In 1980, the Santa Clara, California-based Intel established the campus, which today comprises some 700 acres. That campus is located on the southwest side of Chandler at 4500 S. Dobson Road and is Intel’s largest manufacturing site in the US. In a statement, David Zinsner, chief financial officer of Intel, said the agreement with Brookfield is “a first for our industry, and we expect it will allow us to increase flexibility while maintaining capacity on our balance sheet to create a more distributed and resilient supply chain.” A timetable for when construction on the campus expansion will begin has not yet been announced. By Garry Boulard |
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