Federal agency sells former US Army Reserve Center to Silver City

A federal agency sold a vacant U.S. Army Reserve center to the town of Silver City for $340,000 and is trying to sell two more New Mexico properties in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

“The sale of this property is another example of (the General Services Administration)’s commitment to optimizing the federal real estate portfolio by divesting costly, underperforming assets,” GSA Acting Administrator Mike Rigas said in a statement.

The agency has listed more than 40 properties throughout the country it is trying to sell in an accelerated process, including a General Services Administration motor pool site in Santa Fe at 2500 Cerrillos Road and a warehouse in Albuquerque on 12th Street.

The town of Silver City has not made firm plans for how to use the former Phillips Memorial U.S. Army Reserve Center, but the property has a good location and was available for sale when the town had funds to purchase it, according to Randy Hernandez, Silver City’s business operations manager.

“I think that property had been of interest for the town to acquire just because of its location and the size of the property,” Hernandez said.

The property includes 5 acres of land and two buildings on Pine Street. One of the buildings is 64 years old and appears to be in decent condition, Hernandez said. It will likely need minor upgrades, but is already in usable condition.

Initially, the General Services Administration contacted local governments, school districts and nonprofits about using the property to address homelessness in December 2024, Hernandez said. Silver City officials applied to purchase the property and use it for transitional housing earlier this year. In the summer, however, the federal agency offered to sell the property outright regardless of use, and the town took that opportunity.

“We're exploring all of our options to see what would be the best use,” Hernandez said. “So we don't have any definitive plans yet, and now we have a new mayor and some council members joining us in January, so they may want to have some input on that as well.”

The city had money available for the purchase after construction of a new recreation center came in $500,000 under budget, Hernandez said. The recreation center was paid for with a bond.

Cathy Cook covers the federal government for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com.