Up to $1 million in state money may soon be secured for infrastructure work at the 64-acre campus that once belonged to the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
City officials, with a good deal of input from the public, have been trying for the past three years years to find a new use for the campus in downtown Santa Fe, with a particular emphasis placed on transforming the site into a mixed-use development with affordable housing.
Earlier this year, a Texas-based development firm pulled out of an effort to redevelop the campus, noting, in part, that the property’s infrastructure was “incomplete and obsolete.”
That firm, KDC/Cienda Partners, also said it would require at least $30 million to demolish outdated structures on the campus before anything new could be built.
Earlier this month members of the New Mexico State Legislature voted to approve roughly $5 million in capital outlay projects for the City of Santa Fe, with $1 million going to the improvement of roads and other infrastructure on the campus.
Other Santa Fe projects in line for capital outlay funding include construction of a Southside Teen Center, with $1.8 million in state backing; and some $1 million that will go for general park improvement and upgrade projects.
The outlay projects are now awaiting the final approval of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
By Garry Boulard
