future of former albuquerque santatorium site under review

Bernalillo County officials continue to reach out to neighbors living near the site of a former sanatorium, trying to solicit input on how the property should be repurposed.

For roughly four decades, the Sandia Ranch Sanatorium, located at 6903 Edith Boulevard, provided housing and care for people suffering from both mental illnesses as well as tuberculosis.

In the 1960s, the sanatorium site, which included four separate buildings, was turned into a nursing home, before ending operations in 1998.

In the years following that closure, the abandoned site attracted any number of drug users and vandals before Bernalillo County purchased the property in 2015 for just under $2 million.

The structures at the site were subsequently leveled with the county shortly putting out feelers for what should be done with the 17-acre site, located around 6 miles to the north of downtown Albuquerque.

Proposals have included turning the property into a park, an aquatic center, and an agricultural demonstration site.

A separate bid to build a charter school for the deaf at the site has sparked the opposition of area residents who have said they are concerned that if such a school should fail, the property will once again be left with one or several abandoned buildings.

By Garry Boulard

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