Retail Mecca: Cottonwood Area a Magnet

Total Wine, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Chipotle Mexican Grill are among the dozens of national names that have set up shop in retail centers close to Cottonwood Mall in recent years.

Local businesses that have recently opened or plan to open include Farmer’s Market and La Montanita Co-op. They join others that have opened West Side locations such as the Il Vicino pizza and brewery chain at Coors and Alameda, or launched new enterprises like the whimsical comics, T-shirt and toy store Kaboom Test Labs on Cottonwood Park Drive.

“The primary reason we opened here was the demographics: there’s lots and lots of families on this side of town. The store has been exceptional,” said Kaboom Test Labs owner Gene Bustamante.

“Cottonwood has been one of the three strongest submarkets in Albuquerque for the last three years, along with Uptown and Paseo del Norte,” said Ken Schaefer, researcher with Collier’s International, formerly Grubb & Ellis New Mexico, a commercial real estate brokerage.

Local appliance and electronics retailer Baillio’s, which made its West Side debut at Cottonwood Corners in late 2011, announced it’s closing that location after it couldn’t get a permanent lease for the space. But owner Jack Baillio has already said he is searching for another West Side location to meet area demand.

Easy Access

Karen Marcotte, a former chair of NAIOP, the commercial real estate industry association, said the Cottonwood area offers critical advantages prized by businesses – namely access via major arterial roads such as Coors Bypass and N.M. 528 (Alameda) and proximity to neighborhoods in West Side Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, the North Valley and Corrales.

“That’s the compelling characteristic of Cottonwood – its trade area,” said Tom Jones of Collier International, adding that the area is also attractive to residents east of Interstate 25 who can access it via Paseo del Norte or Alameda.

Rio Rancho resident Judi Walker said she goes down the hill to Cottonwood area shops almost weekly.

“My favorite is Kohl’s,” Walker said, while naming several others like Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond and Petco.

And she was exuberant about the new liquor emporium Total Wine. “When I die, that’s where I want my ashes,” Walker said.

René Horvath, who lives in Taylor Ranch, regularly shops at Cottonwood for clothing, shoes and gifts.

“I enjoy it, it’s on this side of town,” Horvath said.

Businesses in the Cottonwood area also benefit from the draw of large retail stores like Dillard’s and Macy’s at the mall and the many restaurants along Coors and Alameda.

“That’s been part of the success of Cottonwood,” said Jim Dountas, an associate broker with CB Richard Ellis, who represented Five Guys, Sprint and Supercuts in leasing space in the new commercial development called Project 528 on Alameda just east of Cottonwood Commons.

Dountas said he has just executed a lease for the now vacant Mervyn’s space in the Cottonwood Mall, though he declined to name the client.

Cottonwood, Plus

For most of the businesses, the Cottonwood location is in addition to one or more locations elsewhere in Albuquerque.

Many that moved into the area took over spaces left vacant by businesses that fell on hard times after the economic meltdown of 2008.

One of the first was Omar Rahman, president of HiLife Furniture at Menaul and Carlisle, who opened Home Life Furniture in late 2009 in a 36,000-square-foot space at Cottonwood Corners. The space was occupied by household goods retailer Linens ‘n Things, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-2008.

Among the others:

♦ Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is headquartered in Pennsylvania, opened at Cottonwood Commons in 2012 in part of a space where Walmart and American Home Furniture previously had stores. American Home closed the store after filing Chapter 11 in late 2008.

♦ Gordman’s, an Omaha-based clothing, footwear and home decor chain, is rehabilitating space next to Dick’s Sporting Goods and is scheduled to open a 48,190-square-foot store in July.

♦ Delaware-based wine, beer and spirits retailer Total Wine opened in February in the 22,000-square-foot former Borders Books space at Cottonwood Corners.

♦ Farmers Market, a longtime Northeast Heights produce retailer, took over a former spa equipment retail store at 10020 Coors Bypass south of the mall in 2011.

♦ And La Montanita Coop is leasing a 6,500-square-foot space next to Petco at Cottonwood Commons.

There has also been a flurry of other business activity in the Cottonwood area.

In late 2011, Los Cuates New Mexican restaurant bought the former Copeland’s of New Orleans restaurant on Coors south of Alameda, which is home to numerous other restaurants including Garduño’s, Zio’s Italian Kitchen, Outback Steakhouse, Red Robin, Pelican’s, Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon and new local burger joint Lumpy’s.

Kaboom Test Labs and Urban Dog, a gourmet hot dog eatery, joined other small businesses on Cottonwood Park Drive just off Old Airport Road.

Some big names have chosen to build on free-standing pad sites. Denver-based Chipotle built on a pad site in front of Project 528, a new strip mall development where the Virginia-based chain Five Guys Burgers and Fries leased space. Panera Bread, the St. Louis, Mo.-based bakery-cafe company Panera is on a pad site in front of Cottonwood Commons.

The Cottonwood area is also proving attractive for new residential development.

Titan Development and project partner Phoenix-based Alliance Residential Co. recently announced plans to build a 254-unit multifamily housing complex on a 13-acre site just west of N.M. 528 on the hill opposite the Perfection Honda dealership. The development is scheduled to open in late 2014.
— This article appeared on page 06 of the Albuquerque Journal