Sawmill developers transform Park Square into Uptown Albuquerque’s newest food hall hub

Felicia Meyer, owner of HAWT Pizza Co., remembers the excitement of getting dressed up after her high school graduation to go to Park Square and eat at Japanese Kitchen.

Meyer thought One Park Square and Two Park Square — two 10-story office buildings on the 7-acre, mixed-use campus known as Park Square in Uptown Albuquerque — were “iconic.” They were some of the first high-rises built in the city in the 1980s.

“Coming here and seeing the courtyard and whatnot kind of always felt like this had potential to be something more than it was,” Meyer said.

HAWT Pizza Co. is one of a dozen new merchants bringing fresh energy to the office complex through the newly constructed Park Square Market, which includes two food halls and a revitalized courtyard.

Introduced in 2023, the market — which will have a grand opening Wednesday — is part of a broader $10 million-plus investment by Heritage Cos. into Park Square. It aligns with broader efforts to revitalize the Uptown area and attract steady foot traffic, including across the street at Winrock Town Center, where separate developers are building new retail and office space and revamping existing properties.

“To see all the upgrades, it almost makes me want to cry because there’s life,” Meyer said.

Park Square Market, managed by Heritage Restaurant Group, began construction about a year ago, according to Suzie Lubar, president of Heritage’s real estate arm.

The idea for Park Square Market was to create an upscale but warm experience for both tenants of the office buildings and visitors, Lubar said. The developers aimed to give the buildings’ roughly 800 occupants “a reason to come to work” by reinventing the typical office property into more of a lifestyle campus, she said.

“People stay longer, come back more often and spend more money in places that attract their affection,” said Jim Long, CEO and founder of Heritage Cos., whose empire also includes the successful Sawmill Market near Old Town. “If we want people to want to come back to the office again, we have to create environments that are fun and exciting. We also want to continually showcase in our projects, the incredible food and beverage talent we have in our city.”

One of those local food artisans is Rowan Schnalzer, a first-time food hall tenant and owner of Little Gems, a healthy salad and bowl spot.

A former assistant property manager with Heritage, Schnalzer carried around the concept for Little Gems for about a decade before asking if she could pitch it for Park Square Market.

“When I moved here, I thought Sawmill Market was super awesome. I thought, ‘Wow, it’d be so cool to have a spot in there.’ So it’s funny how things worked out,” Schnalzer said.

Schnalzer has hired five employees and is currently open, as are some of the market’s other merchants. Lubar said merchants started holding soft openings in mid-March to “kind of practice with office tenants” before welcoming the public in full.

Wednesday’s official opening celebration kicks off at 11:30 a.m., with brief remarks and a ribbon cutting. The event will showcase a South Food Hall and North Food Hall, collectively spanning roughly 20,000 square feet in separate buildings.

The Uptown food halls are 100% occupied with 12 local, artisanal food and beverage merchants offering up carefully curated coffees, salads, ice creams, wood-fired pizzas, cocktails and more. Park Square Market has many of the same merchants as Sawmill, but between 30-40% are new, Lubar said.

Little Gems, Curious Toast, Kashmir Coffee Lounge and Workhorse Taproom make up some of the new faces.

The opening will also showcase the outdoor courtyard, bounded by the north and south food halls, One Park Square tower to the west and Japanese Kitchen to the east.

Before the redevelopment, the courtyard had large trees more than 30 years old, but they started exhibiting strain and some were dying, Lubar said. About two dozen Frontier elm trees replaced the dying trees. The trees sit in squares of soil and grass carved out of concrete borders, surrounded by bench seating and square stone tiles throughout the courtyard.

Geometric squares and lush greenery are common design elements found throughout the food halls and courtyard. The design, by FBT Architects and concept designer Lauren Greene, pays homage to the market’s name and offers “a very indoor-outdoor experience,” Lubar said.

“I think it turned out better than we even envisioned,” she added.

Randy Perkins is a fan. Perkins is the Southwest CEO of the insurance brokerage firm Hub International, a Park Square office tenant since 2021.

“As a native New Mexican, I can honestly say this is a one-of-a-kind (spot) for our city,” Perkins said. It gives Perkins and his 145 employees opportunities to gather in a “more casual meeting space” on-site, he added.

The upgrades also mean good things for the Uptown area, according to Brian Colón, a managing partner at the law firm Singleton Schreiber, an office tenant of more than two years.

“I can tell you, one of the reasons that there’s been an infusion of businesses into the Uptown area is because folks knew this was on the horizon last couple of years,” Colón said. “It’s just exciting.”

More upgrades are yet to come, including an outdoor water feature, a vined arch-covered walkway, more parking spaces, a Gruet Winery tasting room, a jazz bar, upscale retail offerings and renovations to both towers’ first floors, Lubar said.

“Each project we undertake is done with the objective that we are continually improving our city and state,” Long said. “Albuquerque and New Mexico deserve to have the same beautiful environments that you find in other locations. We want to create places that are stimulating and inspiring.”