Palisociety, a Los Angeles-based hotel management company, wants to capitalize on New Mexico’s booming film industry by revamping Hotel Blue on the corner of Central Avenue and Eighth Street.
Located at 717 Central Ave. NW, the 75,000-square-foot Hotel Blue will be renamed Arrive Albuquerque. The hotel, which has been in the works for years, will feature 137 rooms, a ground-level coffee shop, a pool, bar, restaurant and meeting spaces, Jorgan Von Stiening, president of Palisociety, said. The retail/restaurant tenants have yet to be finalized.
Bradbury Stamm Construction Inc. began work on the site in June 2023. Albuquerque’s City Council amended the hotel’s Industrial Revenue Bond (IRB) application in fall 2023 to allow for the project’s completion date to be pushed to Dec. 31, 2024. Covid-induced construction delays and inflation were cited for the slow down.
When asked this week for an update on the exact timeline, Von Stiening simply provided a “no comment.”
Once complete, the $30 million hotel will employ a mix of 75 full- and part-time employees, Von Stiening said.
“One of the things that we really love about Albuquerque is it’s ripe for a great new hotel product and it’s a growing market,” Von Stiening said. “There’s a lot of tie-ins, especially over the last couple of years between Los Angeles and Albuquerque, with film production and studios. There’s a huge opportunity there to capture a Los Angeles customer base that’s spending more and more time in Albuquerque”
The redevelopment project is Palisociety’s first investment in New Mexico. In addition to Albuquerque, the company “has eyes on” expanding its portfolio to Santa Fe and Taos, Von Stiening said.
As of today, Palisociety focuses its investments on hotels with 150 rooms or less. Although the company searches for opportunities across the U.S, the firm’s presence is predominantly on the West Coast, Von Stiening said.
“With this location, specifically, we see such an opportunity to help redefine the area and continue the positive growth along Central Avenue,” Von Stiening said.
Hotel Blue was built in 1965 and stands six stories tall. The redevelopment is aimed at filling a need for hotel rooms in the Downtown area, according to a news release by the City of Albuquerque.
Source: “Here’s why this L.A. company remains bullish on its $30M Downtown Albuquerque project“
