Union Pacific Rail Facility in Santa Teresa Operational

LAS CRUCES >> What does $400 million buy these days?
If you’re in Santa Teresa, the answer is a brand-new, 10-mile long railroad facility that could employ as many as 600 people.
Jerry Pacheco with the International Business Accelerator visited the Union Pacific rail facility intermodal yard on Tuesday.
“I’m looking at 1,000 (railroad) containers,” Pacheco said on his cell phone from the site. “They are four containers high. It looks like a building out here.”
Gilbert Mesa with Industrial Developments International announced that the facility was operating. The location serves three purposes. There is an intermodal facility where freight is transferred from train to truck; a diesel-fueling site; a crew-changing station.
“This is a huge game changer for the region,” Mesa said during a talk at the monthly Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance luncheon at Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces.
He said the project, which began in 2011, created 3,000 construction jobs and could lead to as many as 600 permanent jobs by 2020.
There is still work to be done, though. Aaron Hunt with Union Pacific said the “full facility is not complete.
“Much of the work is finished however and we are fueling locomotives there, performing crew changes and doing some intermodal container lifts,” Hunt said.
Commercial real estate
In addition to Mesa, Kary Bulsterbaum with Steinborn TCN and Jack Redfearn with NAI 1st Valley Realty were at the MVEDA luncheon to discuss the local commercial real estate scene.
Bulsterbaum said the job market is still soft enough in Las Cruces to affect commercial real estate.
“We’ve only recovered 38-percent of the jobs we’ve lost since 2008,” he said.
Not all commercial real estate reacts the same, though. Bulsterbaum said that Las Cruces has seen space for urgent care facilities, specialty dental services and pain management locations continue to be in demand.
“Medical demand is not going away,” he said.
He said office space is tied to the job sector and is “still slow.”
Still, Bulsterbaum said that there is action in retail.
“We’re seeing national names looking more and more at our area,” he said.
Redfearn said one of the best areas for commercial space is on East Lohman Avenue because of medical space.
He said that restaurants have their eyes on Las Cruces.
“Fast food and sit-down places are still going strong,” Redfearn said. “They’re still driving our market.”
Trader Joe’s?
Whenever the Sun-News conducts polls or asks readers on social media sites what they would like to see come to the area, Trader Joe’s is often one of the top answers.
Redfearn, though, was succinct when asked if there were any plans or even talk of the company locating a store here. Speakers stood to answer previous questions, but Redfearn said the answer was so simple, he could keep his seat.
“No,” he said.
By: Brook Stockberger (Las Cruces Sun-News)
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