New Uptown Transit Center to include 400 apartments, retail space

An expanded transit center and at least 400 apartments are coming to Uptown, with $25 million in federal funding. Half of the apartments will be affordable housing and the other half will be at market rate.

The project is designed to make it easier for people to get to Uptown and to live in the area, by adding more housing and expanding the Uptown Transit Center. The transit station is the end of the line for the Albuquerque Rapid Transit 766 route, one of the most frequent bus services offered in the city, said Transit Director Leslie Keener.

“We work in a half-mile radius,” said Lawrence Kline, principal project planner. “That’s about the average distance we think people will walk to get transit. So, within a half a mile of here, there are 13,000 jobs and only 100 people who both live and work within Uptown. So that means every day, 13,000 people are coming in from everywhere else. Why not let them live here, work here, ride the bus to (the University of New Mexico) or to Presbyterian?”

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller announced the project, along with Democratic U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and Mitch Landrieu, President Biden’s senior adviser and infrastructure coordinator, in a news conference Thursday. The funding comes through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity Program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“This is an investment in infrastructure that we have not seen in the United States of America since the interstate highway system was created, and this is what’s going to make us competitive in this very competitive world for years to come,” Heinrich said.

The Uptown Connect project is a public-private partnership. Developer Palindrome, which previously developed the El Vado Motel, is working with the city and will be building about 400 apartments, said Carrie Barkhurst, a senior planner with the city’s Transit Department.

“We can say we want these things, but if the market doesn’t respond, we don’t usually have that much leverage,” Barkhurst said. “In this case, because of the federal grant to buy the property and we said we want to do this joint development, that’s what got us in the door to ask for more federal funds for this project.”

The project includes building six bus docks with protected waiting areas, signage, security features, lighting, electric charging stations and underground parking. There will also be spaces for retail businesses. The existing Nusenda Credit Union will shift locations so that it remains next to the transit station. Underground parking will be added with at least 400 spaces.

Construction is expected to begin in April 2025 and may be complete in 2027, according to transit department staff.

“Bringing people to the project and bringing retail and commercial is just going to make this area so vibrant and make it the urban center that we always wanted,” Barkhurst said.

Cathy Cook covers retail, commercial real estate and tourism for the Albuquerque Journal.