Work will launch this coming spring on a project that will see the long-planned building of a new jail in Pueblo, Colorado. Designed to hold up to 650 beds, the facility will go up just to the west of Pueblo Boulevard and will include an infirmary that will provide medical care for inmates. According to reports, officials with Pueblo County have been trying to acquire a 35-acre site that could be partly used for both the jail facility as well as some retail development. The jail would also be built with the idea of making it a zero-emissions facility. Work on the new jail could begin in the fall of 2022. County officials earlier said they would like to see the facility completed by late 2024. The jail project is tied in with an effort to extend the busy Joe Martinez Boulevard, which would run adjacent to the facility. Ultimately, the twin projects are expected to have a price tag of around $115 million, comprising the largest capital construction undertaking in Pueblo County’s history. A portion of the funding is coming through revenue generated from a cannabis sales tax approved by county voters two years ago. The current Pueblo County jail at 909 Court Street was opened over four decades ago. Earlier reports have indicated that that facility suffers from some structural issues and is often overcrowded. By Garry Boulard
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New Mexico Legislature May Take Up Bill to Build University of New Mexico Public Health School12/16/2021 A move to secure state funding for the construction of a school of public health at the main campus of the University of New Mexico may be taken by state lawmakers when the legislature meets next month. Lawmakers could well weigh a bill earlier introduced delegating around $50 million for the new school, which would be a part of the UNM’s Health Sciences Center. The funding will ultimately come out of the $1.1 billion America Rescue Plan Act money sent from Washington to New Mexico. As proposed by Senators Joseph Cervantes, Martin Hickey, and Gerald Ortiz y Pino, the legislation also asks for $40 million to pay for new equipment at the UNM Cancer Center, $100 million for the expansion of behavioral health services; and $10 million for prenatal care services, among other projects. The American Rescue Plan Act specifically included $350 billion in Covid-19 relief funding to states, tribes, and localities, with New Mexico receiving a total of $1.7 billion. The act also stipulated that such funding must be used by the end of the calendar year 2024. According to a fiscal impact report prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee the proposed legislation would also include operational costs for the new public health school, but only to the end of fiscal year 2025. The New Mexico State Legislature begins its winter session on January 18. By Garry Boulard An initiative designed to forgive loans to businesses secured through the Paycheck Protection Program could well last until the end of next year, at the very least. So says officials with the Small Business Administration, which oversees the much-used program designed to provide low-interest loans to businesses to help them meet their payroll needs. Established through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act in early 2020 during the initial months of the Covid-19 outbreak, the program as of late last year had approved more than $500 billion in loans. Responding to changing conditions, an initial loan application deadline of June 30, 2020, was later extended to August 8, with the entire program reopened in January of this year and finally officially ended on May 31. Now the SBA has announced that borrowers may continue to apply for loan forgiveness, if staffing levels at the business receiving PPP money were maintained and the loan proceeds really were spent on payroll costs. To date, in excess of 9 million small businesses have applied to have their Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven. According to SBA figures, more than $662 billion out of a total of $791 billion have thus far been forgiven. Continued loan forgiveness will apply to businesses who have used up their loan proceeds, provided that the business in question applies for that forgiveness within 10 months after the last day of the period covered by the original loan. Businesses failing to apply for forgiveness with the SBA during that same window of time, however, will be required to make payments to their PPP lender. As of November some 62% of all PPP loans in the 2021 version of the program have been fully or partially forgiven. By Garry Boulard A church in El Paso serving as a house of worship for more than 70 years is being listed for sale for $1.6 million. The First Christian Church, located at 901 Arizona Avenue, measures nearly 31,000 square feet, and includes a more than 3,700 square foot sanctuary with seating space for up to 400 people. Work got underway in the fall of 1950 on what then was a $287,000 building, designed by the El Paso-based architectural firm of Carroll and Daeuble. At the time of the structure’s construction the El Paso Times described it as brick building “trimmed in cast stone and terra cotta.” The cornerstone to the structure contained a time capsule of early 1950s church activities and documents. The interior of the main structure and related buildings includes a large kitchen space, meeting rooms, and series of exquisite stained glass images in the nave. The larger site, at 1.3-acres, contains a courtyard and playground. Plans are underway for the congregation of the church to move to another location upon the sale of the church, which may possibly be redeveloped for multifamily housing. The property is listed with the El Paso offices of the Core Consultants of Real Estate. According to the International City/County Management Association, an average of more than 1,100 churches per year have closed during the last decade, with the largest segment of those structures reconverted for residential purposes. By Garry Boulard A one-story building in midtown Fort Collins currently housing a well-known restaurant may be repurposed for use as a bank. Located at 4315 S. College Avenue, the 5,500 square foot structure was built in 1978 and sits on a 4.6-acre site. Home since the 1990s to the Inca Mexican Restaurant, the building is owned by a Loveland businessman who is thinking about redeveloping it as a new location for a Bank of America outlet. In conceptual plans submitted to the City of Fort Collins, the repurposed building is seen as having office space and a patio, as well as an automated teller machine drive-up. The potential new bank location might prove ideal, given that it is adjacent to a one-time Kmart store site currently being redeveloped into a King Soopers grocery store. Recent drive-up Bank of America locations have ranged in size between around 1,200 square feet, to more than twice that footprint. Two years ago, the company, with a total Colorado market share in the single digits, announced plans to build just over a dozen new locations, with the goal of becoming the largest banking institution in the Centennial State. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bank of America currently has more than 4,600 locations worldwide. When exactly the project in Fort Collins, which is currently under review, will see work has not yet been announced. By Garry Boulard Prices for such staples as polyvinyl chloride and steel products have continued to see an increase during the final quarter of this year, a new industry study is reporting. But at the same time, according to the Tempe-based Institute for Supply Management, delivery times for a wide variety of needed items are markedly up. The report notes a current waiting time of 3 months for PVC products, and 2 months for copper pipes. One of the longest wait times, at around 11 months, is now seen with steel products. Additional supplies categorized in the report as being in short supply: computer equipment, electrical components, engine components, and both laptop and desktop computers. Overall, with any reading above 50 indicating slower deliveries, the Institute’s Backlog of Orders Index in November stood at 65.9%, although that is a slight drop from October’s 67.3%. In a statement, Anthony Nieves, chairman of the Institute, remarked that “Demand continues to outpace supply that has been impacted by capacity constraints, shortages of labor and materials and logistical challenges.” Nieves added that such trends have additionally promoted a demand inflation that “is affecting overall business conditions.” By Garry Boulard A landmark hotel and resort that was founded originally in 1930 as a Harvey House is now being listed for sale. The Hacienda del Camino Real Hotel and Hot Springs, located at 2200 County Road D061 in Radium Springs some 16 miles to the northwest of Las Cruces, features an unconventional mix of amenities including a main house with just under 10 guest suites, gazebo, river decks, a chicken coop, and corrals for up to fifty sheep. Originally called the Radium Hot Springs Hotel, it was a part of the Harvey House national network of inns providing rooms and food mostly to railroad employees and visitors for most of the 20th century. The centerpiece of the resort is its natural hot springs. After its Harvey House years, the resort eventually became known as the Hacienda del Camino Real. An advertisement in the Las Cruces Sun-News in 1970 boasted its “fine gourmet dining, choice wines, cocktail lounge, therapeutic baths, and steam and massages.” Frequently lauded by travel writers, the hotel and resort were recently featured on a site called Hopeandcourage, describing it as “truly a welcoming and handsome place to visit.” The owner of the property, after undertaking a series of property upgrades, recently decided to put the hotel and resort up for sale, with a listing price of $3.5 million. Noting that renovation work, the listing on Loopnet.com also says that the property has the potential of generating up to $2 million annually in guest and tourist revenue. By Garry Boulard Work could begin next fall on a middle school project in Alamogordo that will see the construction of several facility buildings, rather than the typical single school structure. Officials with the Alamogordo Public Schools system say the structures, to be built on a 24-acre campus at the Hang Glider Park, will see the construction of classroom space designed to house around two dozen students. The Hang Glider Park is located in the 3000 block of N. Florida Avenue. The project will also see the addition of smaller “break out” rooms to be used for one-on-one learning. The new buildings will take the place of the more than 60 year-old Chaparral Middle School, located at 1401 College Avenue, and will also include a stadium with sports field and running tracks. As designed by the firms of Lake Flato Architects of San Antonio and the Albuquerque-based Studio Southwest, the classrooms will put an emphasis on natural lighting. The project is being partially funded through a $17 million general obligation bond approved by voters in Otero County in the fall of 2019. The site for the new school came about as the result of a land swap approved last year by the Alamogordo City Commission seeing the city give to the school district the Hang Glider Park, in return for the 20-acre site of the existing Chaparral Middle School. If all goes well, it is expected that the new school complex will be open in time for the fall 2024 semester. By Garry Boulard Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas are among the states receiving funding for a wide variety of transportation infrastructure projects. In announcing what amounts to almost $1 billion in federal grants for the projects, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the selected initiatives will “improve infrastructure, strengthen supply chains, make us safer, advance equity, and combat climate change.” The funding is more specifically coming through the government’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grants and is going to exactly 90 individual projects in 47 states. The funding through what are called RAISE grants is seeing just under $14 million going for the modernization of a segment of Washington Street in Denver, to enhance the multi-modal potential of that throughway. A project in the city of Trinidad in Colorado is slated to receive nearly $2.8 million for the restoration of 34 miles of rail track. That track is part of the historic Southwest Chief route and will include the building of 15 panel turnouts as well as some 20 panelized grade crossings. Grant funding to the tune of $25 million is on its way to the New Mexico Department of Transportation for the reconstruction of 21 miles of US Route 64 in the northwest corner of the state. The project, among other things, will see the replacement of four bridges. Projects funded by RAISE grants are generally judged on such factors as their environmental sustainability, safety, quality of life, and economic competitiveness. In announcing the grants, Buttigieg noted that with the recent passage of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “we will be able to support far more infrastructure projects to support jobs and everyday life in communities across the country.” By Garry Boulard Built during the early part of the 20th century, the historic La Veta Inn has for decades served travelers making their way through the mountain byways of southern Colorado. Located in the artistic community town of Le Veta, whose population currently stands at just over 800 people, the two-story hotel was built in a classic adobe style and is regarded as a regional landmark. In the center of a town that is itself surrounded by the San Isabel National Forest, the inn, according to writer Cindy Brick in her book Colorado Curiosities, “is a great place to watch bears.” Now the inn, dating to 1923, is being listed for sale by the company H&P Lodging LLC for $995,000 as part of a package deal that also includes a second retail property built in 1900. With its shady courtyard, the inn is known for its rustic charm, but also features 17 renovated rooms on a site that also includes a 5,000 square foot restaurant and bar with a seating capacity of 150. Although the town of La Vita is bucolic it, like the rest of Colorado, has seen a significant increase in property values since the onset of Covid-19. The median residential listing price as of October stood at $425,000, a 75% increase in the last year. By Garry Boulard |
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