Archives for April 2016

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico State University is putting the final touches on a new master plan to develop a high-tech industrial hub on the southern end of campus.
The plan calls for building three industry clusters in healthcare, aerospace and digital media at the Arrowhead Research Park — a 175-acre swath of land on the university’s southern tip that’s sandwiched between Interstates 10 and 25. NMSU originally dedicated that zone for an industrial park in 1989, but very little development has occurred until now.
Last year, however, the university received a $488,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration to develop a master plan to build out the area. That paved the way for a new partnership last July with Albuquerque-based RIO Real Estate Opportunities LLC, which will provide financing, development and construction services for the park.
Now, with the master plan nearly complete, RIO and the university are gearing up for a marketing blitz, plus ground breaking this summer on a new, 64,000-square-foot building at the park. That facility will house all of NMSU’s technology transfer and entrepreneurship programs, plus startup companies and established businesses that want to co-locate there.
“We’ll wrap up the master plan in late April or early May,” said Arrowhead Park Executive Director Wayne Savage. “We’ll launch an aggressive marketing campaign starting in May, and pursue a cluster-based development focus going forward.”
The park does currently house a 39,000-square-foot Arrowhead Executive Office Center. That’s a privately-owned, three-building complex where General Dynamics, a Virginia-based communications technology company, and the U.S. Geological Service are located.
Also, since 2010, two early college high schools have opened at the park, one focused on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM education, and the other on medical training. The schools allow students to earn college-level associate degrees alongside their high school diplomas.
In addition, in August, the private Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine will open an, 80,000-square-foot building at the park, providing career in healthcare in partnership with NMSU and the high schools, Savage said. That could offer a magnet to attract biotechnology companies to Arrowhead.
Next week, NMSU will meet with 40 to 50 local leaders in healthcare and biotechnology to discuss strategies for growing an industrial cluster.
Arrowhead will also pursue an aerospace industry cluster, drawing on the university’s research and development expertise in that area and the park’s proximity to Spaceport America and White Sands Missile Range. And, the university hopes to use its creative digital media programs — which include animation, virtual reality, game development, computer science and big data management — to attract film industry interest.
“We hope to build that cluster in partnership with the city, which wants to create a community film studio,” Savage said.
Development will kick off with the planned 64,000-square-foot building that RIO expects to open in mid-2017, said RIO principal Tim Cummins.
“We’ll bring financing and equity and construct the building,” Cummins said. “We expect to break ground, by the latest, at the end of summer.”
The $15 million building will provide a new home for Arrowhead Center Inc., NMSU’s technology transfer office, which has markedly ramped up activities in the last few years. The Arrowhead Center is currently crammed into the Genesis Center, a 30,000-square-foot complex of buildings just northeast of Arrowhead Park that it shares with startups and established companies.
By: Kevin Robinson-Avila (Albuquerque Journal)
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to requests from the public, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday it has extended the comment period on a proposed land-use planning rule by 30 days.
“The proposed rule aims to improve the planning process by making it more collaborative, transparent, and effective,” a BLM news release states.
The comment period will be extended by 30 days, from April 25 to May 24. The proposed rule was made available to the public two weeks prior to its publication in the Federal Register on February 25. With this extension, the BLM will provide a public comment period of 104 days. A notice formalizing this extension will be published in the Federal Register.
Implementation of the proposed rule would enable the BLM to apply the best practices that it has identified over the past 30 years of land-use planning. Continuing the BLM’s longstanding tradition of working closely with communities and local partners, the proposed rule would create increased opportunities for public involvement and transparency in the management of the 245 million acres of public lands that the BLM administers, according to the news release.
The rule would also establish an upfront assessment of baseline conditions in the planning area using the best available science and other relevant information, like traditional ecological knowledge and public views.
The project website, www.blm.gov/plan2, contains the proposed rule, recordings of the past public webinar and meeting, and other resources.
By: Las Cruces Sun-News
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Would you describe Downtown Albuquerque as “awesome and full of character?”

TripAdvisor would. And it did — naming the Duke City’s Downtown as one of 11 in the nation in its report: “Downtown America: 11 awesome urban districts full of character.”

The travel website company (Nasdaq: TRIP) included some big urban cores among its choice of 11: Los Angeles, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Denver and New Orleans to name a few.

As far as Downtown Albuquerque is concerned, TripAdvisor said: “The arts and entertainment district is on the rise.” And writers noted the Albuquerque Convention Center’s multi-million dollar remodel and the uniqueness of the KiMo Theatre as positives.

The optimistic press is welcome for a corridor that is pushing for revitalization and is in the midst of many new initiatives — including Innovate ABQ, just across the railroad tracks to the east, and the Rail Yards to the south.

Read the full citation on Albuquerque and see the full list of 11 here.

By: Damon Scott (Albuquerque Business First)

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