Las Cruces opens new senior apartments. Governor hails progress on housing

LAS CRUCES — When the city broke ground last year on a $26.5 million, 80-unit apartment complex for residents 55 or older, targeting those making no more than 60% of local median income, housing officials predicted it would be full by this December.

By the time they cut the ribbon on the recently opened Pedrena Senior Apartments on Tuesday, 70 of its 80 units were already full, with the last 10 expected to be occupied by Halloween.

The large apartment complex, sitting on the El Paseo corridor connecting downtown to the New Mexico State University campus area, comprises a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments. The developers are Thomas Development Co. and Northwest Integrity Housing Co.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham participated in the ribbon-cutting in the parking lot near the facility’s main entrance as a few residents watched from their front doors and a second-floor balcony.

The project was funded through a mix of voter-approved general obligation bonds, state funds, tax credits and financing through Housing New Mexico as well as the city and Doña Ana County.

“Providing homes is essential so seniors can age with dignity, security and an improved quality of life,” Mayor Eric Enriquez said.

It also represented the latest step in the city’s efforts to close a housing gap that includes 5,600 rental units, with multiple housing projects breaking ground, cutting ribbons or seeking funding to house low- and moderate-income tenants and households in mixed-income communities.

“This really was a community effort,” the governor said, praising the mix of public and private financing as well as comprehensive zoning reform approved by the city of Las Cruces in February: “It means these things don’t take 30 years to build — they take a year or two. It’s amazing. That is not happening around America and it’s not happening fast enough in New Mexico.”

George Maestas, director of Housing Development for Housing New Mexico — the quasi-governmental entity previously known as the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority — said the organization is supporting 56 multifamily developments statewide, including the Pedrena apartments, representing $415 million in funding committed to build nearly 5,200 apartment units in 20 municipalities.

With her second and final term expiring at the end of 2026, Lujan Grisham promised more state funds would target affordable housing and services for the unhoused.

“The communities that have modern building codes that can demonstrate they can do this and almost already be at full occupancy are in the leader positions for advanced state funding,” Lujan Grisham said. “And we ought to build another 20,000 units, both rentals and houses, over the next decade.”