Funding Underway for Innovative Albuquerque Affordable Housing Complex

An Albuquerque project that will see the construction of nearly 100 rental housing units, the vast majority of which will be classified as affordable, is receiving House and Urban Development Home Funding.

The Hiland Plaza is set to go up on a currently vacant site at 5000 Central Avenue SE.

That site was formerly the home of the Desert Sands Hotel, which was built in 1957 but demolished after more than a decade of decline in late 2016.

The spirit of the Desert Sands, however, one of several dozen motels along Central Avenue typifying a mid-20th century Western streamline design, will live on with the creation of the Hiland Plaza.

More specifically, the new project, according to city documents, will exemplify the Moderne architectural movement seen in many motels, hotels, restaurants, and shopping plazas in the West, primarily from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s.

To be developed with the Greater Albuquerque Housing Partnership, the Hiland Plaza will see the construction of a four-story structure, with some commercial space, a patio, trees, and landscaping.

The project, which may also be eligible for a low income housing tax credit through the New Mexico Finance Authority, will feature 75 units for residents at or below 60% of the American Median income level.

Another sixteen units will be offered at the market rate.
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Altogether, the project is expected to cost around $20 million to complete.

​By Garry Boulard

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