Two major downtown Albuquerque office towers — including the former Wells Fargo tower — are being transformed into hundreds of apartment units, with one project entering grant negotiations and another breaking ground near the start of the year.
The Albuquerque Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency and a developer recently provided an update on the status of two marquee housing projects in the city.
Lincoln Avenue Communities, the developer behind the Lomas Towers Project, closed on the purchase of the former Wells Fargo Tower at 200 Lomas Blvd. NW and is ready to move forward with development agreement negotiations for a $2 million city grant, MRA Director Terry Brunner said in a Dec. 18 meeting.
The project would convert the 13-story tower into 100 affordable housing units, along with residential amenities and existing bank services, previous Albuquerque Business First reporting shows.
Brunner said he hopes to have the development agreement ready for review in February or March.
Dekker is the architect for the project, according to previous Business First reporting, and HB Construction is the general contractor, according to Lincoln Avenue Communities Regional Project Manager Rusty Snow.
Some demolition and remediation work for asbestos is currently underway, and Lincoln Avenue Communities expects an official ground breaking in May 2026, dependent upon other parties that want to be involved in the ceremony, Snow said. He expects the redevelopment project to take 18 months.
Local developer Geltmore LLC is also involved with the project and will redevelop the office and retail component on the ground floor of the tower, previous reporting shows.
The Serenade at Park Central project, which will convert the 10-story office tower at 300 San Mateo Blvd. into a 110-unit apartment complex, is now anticipated to have a ground breaking near the first of the year, Brunner said.
He added that the project is expected to be completed by the end of next January, but it must be completed no later than Sept. 30, 2027, according to previous reporting.
The MRA and developer, Silverstone Equity Partners, inked the development agreement Dec. 5, a city of Albuquerque press release shows.
“Signing this agreement is a turning point for the building and the neighborhood,” Brunner said in the press release. “It locks in commitments, gives the project a clear path forward and sets the stage for the larger redevelopment that the community has waited for.”
Silverstone Equity Partners did not respond to Albuquerque Business First’s request for comment on this story.
Source: “Lincoln Avenue Communities closes on former Wells Fargo building for housing conversion“
