Hiway House Motel project will provide ‘needed facelift’ to Nob Hill as developer seeks approval of IRB

The Hiway House Motel was once a blight to the Nob Hill area. Now, it’s an empty lot set to welcome a contemporary redevelopment inspired by a century of Route 66 history.

The Nob Hill District has been the focus of many new developments, including Heritage Real Estate Co.’s acquisition of the Nob Hill Business Center and Mesa Provisions’ expansion into the soon-to-close Zinc Wine Bar & Bistro. Titan Development, one of the state’s largest development groups, will build on the revitalization with a three-story, 112-room boutique hotel.

The Albuquerque-based group is hopeful the project will be aided by a $34 million industrial revenue bond, or IRB, from Bernalillo County. The Bernalillo County Commission approved an inducement resolution to issue the bond to Titan for the hotel project at a meeting on April 22. The commission will consider final approval of the IRB at its May 27 meeting.

Titan Development acquired the former Hiway House Motel in 2024. The motel — once considered an “eyesore” that drew in criminal activity, homelessness and fires, according to the group’s IRB application to the Bernalillo County Commission — has since been demolished due to being “beyond salvageable.”

The group has since planned to construct a new hotel on the currently empty lot at 3200 Central SE. The hotel is going to be a Tribute by Marriott, which Titan Development’s Josh Rogers described as “soft brand (that) allows you to customize the hotel.”

“We are on Route 66 and the historic Nob Hill area, and we’re trying to bring all of that into the hotel in a very contemporary, unique way,” Rogers, a partner with Titan, told the Journal. “It’s 100 years of history that this site is looking at, so it’s a lot to bring that all in together, but that is our goal.”

An IRB is “an economic development tool that provides certain tax exemptions for a project to fill financial gaps to make the project feasible,” said the county’s economic development officer, Marcos Gonzales.

An IRB represents a transaction between a developer and a government entity. Investors buy the bond, which then funds the company developing the project so it can pay for the necessary building and equipment.

During construction, the government becomes the owner of the property and leases the property back to the developer until bondholders, or investors, are repaid. The government charges the developer payments in lieu of taxes, which Gonzales said is “a portion of what they would normally be paying” without the IRB.

This allows the developer, in this case Titan, to save money during the construction and operation of the project and pay back the bondholders with the revenue it generates.

Projects that provide value to the public are ideal for IRBs, Gonzales said, making the hotel an ideal fit.

Gonzales said he is “anticipating positive feedback” from the commission at its meeting later this month, as the project “will bring a very needed facelift to the Nob Hill area.”

He added that the development can help draw more visitors to the area and offer a needed hospitality space for space and technology companies working within the Q Station, a hybrid workspace located in Nob Hill.

Titan Development is currently drawing up plans for the roughly 95,000-square-foot hotel, which will include a rooftop bar, meeting rooms, a restaurant and retail space. Rogers said the group has already identified a tenant for its rooftop bar, though they have not reached a deal yet, and they will be searching for tenants for its ground floor restaurant and bar over the next few months.

“We’re really excited about bringing in somebody local,” Rogers said.

The hotel will employ 77 people from the local community, the IRB application said. The application projects that the hotel will serve 31,000 guests and generate $8 million in hotel sales annually. It also projects the restaurant will serve 45,000 patrons per month.

Rogers said the project is expected to break ground later this year or early 2026 at the latest, with the hope of opening by early 2028.

“Nob Hill’s gone through a lot of changes,” Rogers said, adding the area was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Albuquerque Rapid Transit construction. “We honestly think this hotel is exactly what Nob Hill needs to thrive.”