By Richard Metcalf
Of the Journal
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE: Construction is expected to begin about the end of summer on three speculative commercial buildings at Mesa del Sol, the giant master-planned community where only the Advent Solar building is now under way.
A 93,642-square-foot "flex" building is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2007 on University SE, just north of Bobby Foster Road, according to Jim Chynoweth of CB Richard Ellis, listing agent for Mesa del Sol.
The building is planned immediately east of the existing Journal Pavilion; space is being marketed for flexible uses, such as a warehouse, manufacturing and call center.
"What we're targeting is base employment jobs," Chynoweth said.
A package of three office/retail buildings is planned on University SE, south of Bobby Foster Road in what will become Mesa del Sol's town center.
The first phase will have two buildings scheduled for completion by the second quarter of next year.
A roughly 65,500-square-foot building will have three stories and 40,275 square feet of office space on the top two stories. The asking lease rate for the office space is $20 a square foot.
The 25,165-square-foot ground floor will be set aside for retail.
Next to it, a second two-story building will have 10,090 square feet of office space on the second floor and the same amount of retail space on the first floor. A third, smaller, two-story office/retail building is planned in the future on the same campus.
The three-building campus will be adjacent to a park at the northern gateway to the planned town center. Chynoweth said the 90-acre town center will have an urban feel with all buildings three- to four-stories high.
Chynoweth said a pioneering spirit might be required of potential users of the retail space.
"There are some uses that don't make sense up there today," he said, adding that early users might include restaurants, banking institutions and other service-oriented retailers.
"The draw for retail is you will have a captive audience on top of the mesa," he said. "You will have a very fast-growing employment base."
From 4,000 to 5,000 jobs are projected at Mesa del Sol by 2008, he said. Pacifica Ventures is in final negotiations to develop a 500,000-square-foot Culver Studio film complex at Mesa del Sol.
In addition, Forest City Covington, which is planning and developing the 12,500-acre site south of Albuquerque International Sunport, has also said it plans to build 800 residences a year beginning in late 2007.
The initial speculative buildings will all be built by Forest City Covington. A dirt road will be used for access to the town center area until University is extended past Bobby Foster Road to the site.
Forest City Covington is also building Mesa del Sol's first building, an 87,596-square-foot facility for Albuquerque-based Advent Solar. The building on University SE is expected to be ready for occupancy by the end of the summer.
The 93,642-square-foot flex building was selected as the first speculative building because of its versatility, said Chynoweth. A second flex building of the same size is planned next door as soon as the first one is leased out.
The decision to build speculative buildings— as opposed to preleased buildings, as was the case with Advent Solar— was driven in part because of a metrowide slowdown in speculative construction this year.
"We've been targeting out-of-state businesses as part of our marketing plan," Chynoweth said. "The need for having standing product is to accommodate businesses on the fast track for coming in."
NEW APARTMENTS: A five-unit, two-story apartment building, designed in a minimalist style, is going up at 1512 Gold SE in the historic Silver Hill Neighborhood.
The 4,125-square-foot building on two lots is the first major redevelopment on an eclectic street where 1920s-era bungalows mix with 1960s-era apartment buildings. The 1500 block of Gold SE is also where John Hyde is accused of killing two police officers last August.
"We just felt we had to do something for the neighborhood, which we've always liked," said Michael Morse, who with his wife, Susan, owns the property.
The building, called Flats on Gold, has onsite parking and a ground-level breezeway leading to a shaded common area at the rear of the property. Three units will sit on two ground-level apartments to take advantage of second-story views, said architect Mark Baker.
MOVED OUT: CooperVision Inc. has cleared out of its contact lens plant on the 6800 block of Academy Parkway West NE, opening up the nearly 50,000-square-foot building for another user.
California-based The Cooper Companies, which owns CooperVision, announced in early 2005 plans to close the plant and lay off 230 workers. In early May of this year, an auction was held to sell much of its equipment.
The plant was closed because it made a type of contact lens that was in low demand, company executives said at the time.
CooperVision still has two years left on its lease, but negotiations are under way to terminate it, said listing agent Bill Robertson of Grubb & Ellis New Mexico. If a lease termination isn't reached, the building will be subleased.
Land uses
Breakdown of planned land uses at Mesa del Sol:
1,400+ acres for commercial development
4,400+ acres for residential and supporting retail use
3,400+ acres for parks and open space
800+ acres for schools and universities
Richard Metcalf covers commercial real estate. You can reach him at 823-3972 or rmetcalf@abqjournal.com.
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