Archives for July 2015

According to a new report, Albuquerque is one of the least expensive for singles.

Most people think Albuquerque has a relatively low cost of living. Now, the city’s cheap shopping, inexpensive gym memberships and low residential rents have landed the it near the top of a new list.

The financial services portal GOBankingRates ranked the nation’s 89 largest cities by the things that singles, and others, care about: dressing up, going out, and finding a cheap place to rent. It released the survey results this week.

Albuquerque was ranked the eighth-cheapest city for singles, because the city’s rents are 70 cents per-square-foot; clothing costs, on average are $47.17 a month; and a monthly gym membership will cost you about $32 per month, according to the report — all the markers some of the lowest in the nation.

The cheapest city for singles, though, is Reno, Nevada, where a gym membership costs just $20.67 a month on average, though rent is 86 cents-per-square foot. The most expensive city is San Francisco, where rents are about five times higher than in Albuquerque, at $3.36 per-square-foot, and a night out will cost $147.

Access the full report here.

By Dan Mayfield (Albuquerque Business First)

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COURTESY PHOTO An artist’s rendering of the planned Las Cruces Regional Medical Center at Park Ridge.
Two New Mexico state flags and wooden stakes in the ground of what once was the Las Cruces Country Club mark what will become the Las Cruces Regional Medical Center at Park Ridge.
If the process for obtaining the necessary permits goes as planned, developers hope to break ground on a the full service 78,000-square-foot hospital by the end of the year. Construction is anticipated to take about 12 months, so there are expectations that Las Cruces’ newest hospital could open in 2016.
“We are real,” said Bob Pofahl of Las Cruces, who has been spearheading the project to redevelop the former country club’s 110 acres. “We have been doing lots of due diligence the last 18 months. We’ve got a world-class hospital that’s going to be built here.”
Eventually, the $250 million development will include apartments, retail and more in what will be the largest infill redevelopment project in Las Cruces’ 166-year history.
Pofahl and representatives of ASI Capital, a limited liability company from Colorado Springs; Galichia Hospital Group, a limited liability company in Wichita, Kan.; CarrBaierCrandall (CBC) Real Estate Group, of Kansas City, Mo.; Hutton Construction and Spangenberrg Phillips Tice Architecture, both from Wichita, Kan., gathered for an open house this week to discuss plans for the project.
The first phase of development will include construction of the hospital, an adjacent medical office complex, a rehabilitation hospital and an assisted living facility to be called Kiva Gardens.
Pofahl said the medical campus will be the anchor of Park Ridge, an urban village that will also include townhouses, multifamily homes, and a commercial area including shops, restaurants and cafes, and associated businesses.
“We want a hospital facility that is the best place for physicians to be,” Pofahl said. “We want to develop the medical campus first. It’s the anchor for the project.
He said the project will create 1,300 jobs, 580 of which will be medical jobs. He estimated it could take five to seven years to fully complete Park Ridge.
Galichia Hospital Group operates hospitals and clinics in Kansas, Texas and Kentucky. The Las Cruces Regional Medical Center will include 32 in-patient beds, three operating rooms, six-bed preparatory and recovery rooms, an eight-bed intensive care unit, a 12-bed post anesthesia care unit, a cardiac cath lab suite, radiology and emergency room suites, a pharmacy and laboratory.
“We’re excited to be here,” Dr. Joseph Galichia said. “The physicians I have met so far we’ve been very impressed with.
“Our goal is to give (Las Cruces and others who come to the hospital) the highest quality of medical care we can.”
Mike Bellew, vice president of development for CBC Real Estate Group, the hospital’s developer, said the next goal is to break ground by the end of the year.
“The Las Cruces Regional Medical Center is a perfect fit for the sustainable community vision of Park Ridge,” Bellew said. “The convenience and comfort of a nearby modern health care center supports the complete live, work and play lifestyle concept.
Bellew said a 70,00 square-foot medical complex will be next to the hospital, and will be connected by enclosed walkways.
Las Crucen Jay Robb said the rehabilitation center will include as many as 60 beds and will be geared to patients who are recovering and rehabilitating from strokes, heart procedures and conditions, and orthopedic surgeries. The Kiva Gardens assisted living center will include as many as 54 beds, and will be a full-service facility that would also offer living quarters for some patients.
“It will be a home-style facility with 12 to 14 residences for people who want and need assisted living,” Robb said. “It will be a single-level facility that will have quick and immediate access for patients and residents to the nearby hospital.”
Construction of the rehabilitation and assisted living centers probably won’t begin for another year, and both facilities will take nine to 12 months to complete once construction starts.
Steve Ramirez (Las Cruces Sun-News, N.M.)
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Real estate is an integral part of economic activity, with transactions providing avenues for exchange, development, and growth opportunities. Within this framework, like-kind exchanges (LKE) provide an important vehicle to sell and acquire property.
Like-kind exchanges are available to individuals, partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies, as well as trusts. The main requirement of a like-kind exchange is that the sale of one property and acquisition of another property must be part of an integrated transaction, rather than two individual transactions.
The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 1031 codifies that the tax owed on any gain after a sale may be deferred as long as the proceeds are reinvested in a similar property through a like-kind exchange. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) makes note of the fact that while the gain “is tax-deferred […] it is not tax-free.”[1]
Like-kind exchanges (LKE) feature prominently in NAR members’ real estate transactions, as well as their clients. As most REALTORS are small business owners, and as they represent a wide range of small businesses across the country, LKE transactions are important for Main Street.
The Like-Kind Exchanges: Real Estate Market Perspectives 2015 report details the potential impacts upon REALTORS® transactions due to the absence of the tax deferral provision of IRC Section 1031. Repeal of like-kind exchanges or tax-deferral provisions would have a significant ripple effect through real estate markets. A majority of NAR members—95 percent—indicated that they would expect a decrease in real estate values if IRC Section 1031 was repealed. Additionally, 94 percent expected a decrease in demand for core assets/business/service as a result of a potential repeal.

In addition, repeal of like-kind exchanges would impact debt financing of real estate transactions. According to 86 percent of members, there would be a decrease in new constructions loans. Purchase money loans would experience a decline, as well, based on 63 percent of responses. Moreover, 66 percent of NAR members indicated that real estate would experience large increases in leverage. In terms of refinance activity, the responses were somewhat more balanced, with 58 percent considering there would be an increase in activity and 42 percent projecting a decrease in activity.

To access the Like-Kind Exchanges: Real Estate Market Perspectives 2015 report, visit http://www.realtor.org/reports/like-kind-exchange-survey.
By: George Ratiu and Erin Fitzpatrick (Economists’ Outlook)
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“Mixed signals blurred the story in Albuquerque at the start of the year.”

That’s an overview from the Brookings Institution’s Mountain Monitor report on economic performance of 10 major Mountain West metros in the first quarter.

The unemployment rate decreased in Albuquerque for the sixth straight quarter. Job growth picked up, and employment expanded by 0.6 percent.

But output decreased by the same amount. Albuquerque was the only major metro area in the Mountain region that had an output decrease, though the nation as a whole did too.

The Duke City’s unemployment rate is still the second-highest in the region.

And though home prices increased — by 1.3 percent in the quarter and 3.4 percent year over year — that’s a lower than average increase compared to the region and nation.

Eight of the 10 metro areas the report monitors saw gains in all four economic indicators Brookings tracks. “Steady economic growth appears to have finally taken hold in every one of the region’s metro areas,” the report said.

For more, see the Brookings report.

By: Rachel Sams (Albuquerque Business First)

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