Land for Museum Purchased

By Olivier Uyttebrouck

Journal Staff Writer

Plans for an exposition center, transportation museum and other developments in Barelas took a leap forward Thursday when an Albuquerque group announced the purchase of a 27-acre site.

The Urban Council paid $2.5 million for the historic Santa Fe Railway shops, said Franklin Conaway, project director for what planners now call the New Mexico Exposition Center. The site is east of Second Street SW about a half mile south of Downtown.

The Urban Council closed the deal late Wednesday with the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad, he said.

Conaway described an array of plans for the site Thursday, including a hotel, restaurants, brew pubs, shops, a museum and an exposition center that could attract conventions and trade shows.

Renovating 12 buildings at the site would cost an estimated $30 million, Conaway said, and a hotel and other developments ultimately could push the cost to $70 million. Conaway said he anticipates no shortage of interested investors.

"There are already several investor groups around the country that have expressed great interest in the site," Conaway said. A pair of hotel chains also are interested, he said. He declined to name the companies.

The project should open in about three years, he said.

The entire site soon will be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, making the project eligible for a 20 percent tax credit that developers could sell to investors. The tax credit should provide about $6 million for renovating 350,000 square feet of building space, Conaway said.

Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., said the project will allow Albuquerque to compete for conventions that are too large for the Albuquerque Convention Center.

"I think this is probably the most important economic development in Barelas in 20 years," Wilson said Thursday.

Plans call for 220,000 square feet of exhibition space in the three largest buildings. The largest building at the existing Albuquerque Convention Center contains 106,000 square feet.

"The space is just massive," said Ed Pulsifer, vice president of convention sales and marketing for the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Wilson and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., helped rescue the deal in November 1999 when the Urban Council competed with Dallas-area developer Stuart Jones to buy the property. Wilson and Domenici also helped secure a $300,000 federal grant to pay for a feasibility study.

The Urban Council put down $100,000 in February and was given a 90-day deadline to buy the property. Wilson said she helped extend that deadline several times.