Old Town property owners weigh forming Business Improvement District

Old Town is “as good as it’s ever been,” according to property owner Sal Perdomo.

Yet, there’s always room for improvement, which is why Old Town leaders are exploring a new tool to keep the historic neighborhood — one of the nation’s oldest continuously occupied original Spanish villas — moving forward and in step with the times.

In early February, the Historic Old Town Association board voted unanimously to explore the formation of an Old Town Business Improvement District — a mechanism through which property owners pool resources to fund services such as cleaning, maintenance, security and marketing.

City of Albuquerque officials attended the board’s monthly meeting to present the idea after seeing how HOTA has already organized similar efforts, said HOTA President J.J. Mancini.

The association, a nonprofit created four years ago, has a safety and security committee that accepts voluntary monthly fees from property owners, residents and merchants to pay a private security company to handle issues the Albuquerque Police Department can’t respond to quickly enough, Mancini said.

The city felt HOTA’s existing coordination posed an advantage for the creation of a BID, Mancini said. 

“We realized this is a great way to make sure everyone does pay their fair share,” Mancini said. “We could get more funds to activate our district better. We already have a great buy-in from the community. We have great organization and oversight. So the BID would really allow us to take it to the next level.”

The vote comes as property owners in another part of Albuquerque are making headway on a BID of their own. Local leaders launched a petition to form a Downtown BID in May — betting that the mechanism could revitalize the area, help combat crime and improve safety. The petition is making the rounds among the proposed district’s more than 180 property owners.

Bill Keleher, an Albuquerque attorney leading the Downtown BID effort, said he thinks “it is great” that Old Town is also considering a BID. But — like the Downtown effort, which has been in the works for years — Old Town has a long journey ahead before a BID is created.

Potential next steps include researching how other successful BIDs have been structured and raising funds to hire a consultant to help the association form a BID proposal that could be presented to property owners.

The proposal will outline the BID’s boundaries and budget, as well as how property owners’ payments will be calculated and how funds will be allocated.

Safety and cleaning services are the primary focus of the Downtown BID proposal, receiving $1.2 million of its proposed $1.7 million annual budget. While it’s too early to know what the Old Town BID budget could be, Mancini said the proposal will likely be “vastly different” from the Downtown one.

District improvements and events would likely be the focus areas of an Old Town BID, in addition to supporting and designating staff to oversee those efforts, versus volunteers, the HOTA president said. The potential BID would also support the continuation of HOTA’s private security program.

Once a proposal is ready, the fate of the potential Old Town BID will be in the hands of property owners who will choose to either sign or not sign a petition supporting the effort — a phase that has proven challenging to the proposed Downtown BID.

The petition requires signatures from at least 51% of the proposed district’s property owners to advance to City Council for approval; as of November, the Downtown effort had secured 30%.

At the time, Keleher said he expected his team to secure the majority by February. On Wednesday, Keleher said progress is underway but now expects to cross the majority threshold sometime this spring.

The BID effort has drawn both staunch support and opposition from Downtown’s major property owners, but Mancini said he thinks Old Town’s property owners would be more collectively receptive to a BID because the association already asks them to pay “a large percentage (every month) for security.”

To Mancini, one of the major draws of a BID is that it would “level the playing field” regarding property owner involvement.

As HOTA’s private security program exists now — accepting voluntary contributions — Mancini said the funds from those who contribute largely end up supporting the properties of absentee owners, which usually require the most attention.

“It’s unfair for those who are involved to pay for all the services that maybe a few neglected properties receive,” Mancini said.

The city, which has significant Old Town real estate holdings, would contribute to the potential Old Town BID like any other property owner, according to city spokesperson Sarah Supple.

“BIDs are used in communities around the nation to foster collaboration among property and business owners and enhance services and responsiveness to community needs,” Supple wrote in an email. “New Mexico is unique in how rarely we have used this tool. We look forward to collaborating with the Historic Old Town Association and community members as we explore this opportunity.”

Depending on how the BID boundaries are determined, Old Town’s potential BID could encompass about 70 property owners, Mancini said.

Among them is Jim Long, Heritage Cos. founder and CEO and a Downtown property owner who also owns a roughly 24,000-square-foot property known as Plaza Hacienda in the heart of Old Town.

Similar to his remarks on the Downtown BID, Long said he would support the formation of an Old Town BID if it is “properly structured … and administered.” He agreed the effort and planning will likely take some time and “a lot of thought,” but that, if successful, it could be beneficial for Old Town — an area he said is growing and evolving.

“Old Town has great momentum,” Long said, citing the city’s financial support of the area being in a good spot, ongoing Old Town museum upgrades and the area’s low vacancy rate.

“Old Town is really evolving very nicely,” Long continued. “It has always been one of our most important neighborhoods in the city, but I think it's going to continue to get better and better.”

Mancini agreed, stating a BID would ultimately support many of the goals that the association already has in the works and in mind for the area, including historic and cultural preservation, holding more culturally significant events throughout all of Old Town and attracting locals into the area.

“In order for Old Town to be even more of a thriving district, we need to continue down the path of these goals,” Mancini said. “Right now, it’s 100% on volunteers and, of course, we can only give so much. Yet, our dreams and ideas want to take us much farther. A lot of the board’s plans and visions — a BID would help accomplish those.”

Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.