Downtown ABQ continues to draw focus of business, city leaders in 2024

Revitalizing Downtown Albuquerque will continue to be a priority for business leaders and city officials in 2024.

More lighting, more concerts, more entertainment venues and the groundbreaking of a major trail are just a few things on Downtown’s docket in the coming year.

Terry Brunner, the director of the city’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency, said several major updates are planned for Albuquerque’s core.

“We want to continue the progress that was made last year,” he said. “Keep people safe Downtown, give them things to do and build up amenities in the area.”

In the coming weeks, the city is expected to break ground on a large-scale, trail-building effort.

The first phase of the Albuquerque Rail Trail project will include construction of an elevated trail so people can walk into Downtown without having to take the current pass that goes under the railroad tracks near First Street and Central and has raised concerns about safety.

Ultimately, the rail trail is expected to be a 7-mile trail that connects the Railyards, Downtown and Old Town.

The city also has plans to continue work in 2024 to light certain alleyways throughout Downtown and to offer more entertainment.

In an effort to bring more people Downtown, the city hosted three “block parties” during in 2023, when streets were shut down for different events, including live music. Its likely to add additional events this year.

“I think people enjoyed those because it kind of gave them a new way to look at their Downtown. It was well-attended by neighborhoods,” he said. “So we’re going to be looking at different types of entertainment in 2024.”

Terri Cole, the president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, said a city needs a vibrant downtown in order to thrive. The Chamber has for years considered Downtown revitalization to be one of the Chamber’s core priorities.

“We think, in order to get the kind of economic vitality and quality of life and energy in the city as a whole, we have to have the heart. And the heart has got to be Downtown,” Cole said. “And it needs to be successful and vibrant, and a place where people go for entertainment and people take their children for recreation.”

Brunner said cities across the country have been rethinking their downtowns after the COVID-19 pandemic, when many officer workers were able to go to remote work.

“It’s now very important to not only have Downtown continue to be a commercial center, but livability of Downtown and amenities have become so important,” he said.

Brunner said the city carried Downtown momentum into 2024 .

In 2023, Albuquerque police opened a substation in the heart of Dowtown on Central. The city added lights to alleyways around Downtown.

The city announced an Albuquerque Teams initiative, which is a police overtime effort. Businesses contribute to the overtime fund.

The city also rearranged food trucks to move them off Central in the heart of Downtown to give officers better vision of what’s happening on populated sidewalks.

This year, the city also plans a security camera program , in which the city will pay to have security cameras placed on the outside of Downtown Albuquerque businesses and the police department’s Real Time Crime Center will have access to the footage.

There also will be more lighting initiatives.

Cole said the Chamber is glad to see city and business leaders working together to address public safety Downtown. She said the Chamber is hopeful that as the city’s Gateway Center continues increasing the services it provides people who are homeless, that Downtown will draw more residents to entertainment venues.

The city contributed $70,000 to remodel the Firestone building near Seventh Street and Central so it could reopen as an Ex Nova Brewing Company taproom, which is expected to happen sometime this year.

“We’re optimistic about what lies ahead in 2024,” Cole said.