![]() Up to 120 affordable housing units in a larger mixed-use housing complex may soon see construction in Santa Fe. Members of the Santa Fe County Commission have given their approval to hiring an architectural firm for the project, which will go up on a county-owned 6.6-acre site near the intersection of Camino de Jacobo and Airport Road. The site was purchased in 2018 by the Santa Fe County Housing Authority. If the complex becomes reality, it will comprise SFCHA’s first newly-built project since the mid-1980s. As envisioned, the $15 million project will include one and two-bedroom units, as well as studio apartments, and may be eligible for a housing low-income tax credit program through the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority. The project is, in part, inspired by a study called Jacobo Commons—Community at Many Scales, put together by a group of Yale University students who envisioned a community-type project at the site with a series of different-sized buildings surrounding public courtyard space and including bike and walking lanes. Project designer is the planning and architectural firm Autotroph, which is based in Santa Fe. Plans additionally call for the complex to be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. It is not yet known when work on the new Camino de Jacobo complex will actually begin. By Garry Boulard
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![]() A Senator from the Grand Canyon State who has only been a member of the upper chamber for two years has emerged as an important force in trying to secure final passage of President Biden’s big infrastructure legislation. Krysten Sinema has been in regular contact not only with her fellow senators but also the White House, consistently pushing for a scaled-down $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill, compared with a larger $3 trillion alternative measure. The Arizona Senator has expressed her opposition to legislation that would include funding for climate initiatives, paid family and medical leave, expanded Medicare benefits, and has instead pushed for a measure dealing primarily with roads, highways, bridges, water systems and airport project funding. Sinema has also expressed support for broadband infrastructure funding as well as funding for the upgrading of border stations along the U.S./Mexico border. According to a report on CNN, Sinema has even managed to keep light over the sometimes angry negotiations over the measure, at one point suggesting that if things got too confrontational she would just tell her fellow members to “have a glass of wine.” In a statement on the Senate floor, Sinema acknowledged that while not every member of the Senate will be happy with the most recent compromise infrastructure legislation, she said the ongoing negotiations have been all about the members’ willingness to “work with each other, to give a little, to get a little, in order to achieve what’s right and what’s best for the American people.” Members of the Senate are now considering amendments to the bill, a process that could take the rest of the week. Majority Leader Charles Schumer has said that he believes the legislation could pass the full Senate sometime next week. By Garry Boulard In a city where the local apartment market continues to rapidly expand, plans are underway for the construction of a 264-unit apartment complex that will include balconies and rooftop decks.
The project belongs to the Boulder-based Chartered Development Corporation and will go up in Longmont at the northwest corner of Nelson Road and Dry Creek Drive, several blocks away from the Boulder County Fairgrounds. That currently vacant site is surrounded by mostly new apartment and office developments. Along with the Granite Capital Group, which is based in Santa Barbara, California, Chartered Development purchased the site for $3 million, and plans to build five separate buildings. Those structures will each be four stories in height, housing up to 123 one-bed and 121 two-bed units. It is thought that the Longmont project will cost around $73 million to build, with work expected to begin by fall and a rough completion date of spring 2023. With a population that has jumped from 71,000 two decades ago to nearly 100,000 today, the apartment market in Longmont is booming, partly due to its appeal as a bedroom community 35 miles to the north of Denver. Rents for one-bedroom apartments in Longmont currently range between $1,500 to $2,100 a month. By Garry Boulard ![]() Funding has been secured for a project that will hopefully lead to the redesign and reconstruction of an 11-block stretch of a busy downtown Las Cruces thoroughfare. Campo Street runs north to south in a mixed residential and commercial section of the city. It is regarded as a transition corridor connecting the Mesquite Historic District with the downtown area. City officials have long wanted to redesign the street in order to make it more accessible for pedestrians, while also visually integrating it with the rest of the downtown area. The project has already been the subject of a series of public input meetings. Now members of the Las Cruces City Council have approved around $215,000 in funds to pay for a redesign study of the street. Those funds are specifically coming out of the city’s Tax Increment Development District. Council members have also approved TIDD funding, which comes in the form of gross receipts tax revenue, for the continued restoration of the historic Amador Hotel, among other projects. It is thought that it ultimately may cost as much as $2 million for Campo Street’s actual physical reconstruction. By Garry Boulard Since the lifting of Covid-19 shutdown restrictions earlier this spring, the national economy has grown at a 6.5% clip.
But a new report issued by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is suggesting that that growth could have been even greater were it not for ongoing supply chain issues. More specifically, the report notes that a shortage of semiconductor chips ended up depressing both motor vehicle production and sales between April and June. At the same time, the faulty supply chain has had a downer effect on new home building, due not just to builders being unable to get all the materials needed for a given project, but also because investment in the sector declined. The supply chain challenge, coupled with an ongoing worker shortage, is now being seen as the primary reasons why the economy, despite earlier forecasts, did not grow by an even more robust 8.5%. According to Forbes magazine, the semiconductor chip crisis currently shows “no signs of ending any time soon and will continues to impact the supply chains for many industries.” Curtis Dubay, a senior economist with the Chamber, is suggesting that policymakers could go a long way in resolving the supply challenge by doing what they can to help large West Coast ports, which in recent months have been subject to shipment back-ups, expand their capacity. Dubay is also urging the Biden Administration to lift tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, Japan, and Korea. Despite the supply chain challenges, the Chamber’s Economic Policy Division is forecasting an economic growth rate of 7.6% for the third quarter of this year. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are underway for the construction of a new and large mixed-use project in Scottsdale, that will be built around one of the city’s most iconic structures. What is being called the Kimsey will see the building of a 7-story hotel with 168 rooms on a 3.8-acre site, as well as a second 7-story structure, housing around 230 residential units. The development will also include the construction of both commercial and restaurant space. According to city documents, the Kimsey project will be designed with “complementary textures, colors and plant varieties,” which will create “strong aesthetic connections” between the existing and new structures. Plans for the Kimsey have won the praise of local preservationists for keeping intact the famous modernistic and sleek Triangle Building, which was designed by well-known architect Ralph Haver. Known for its low-pitched single-gable style, the 16,000 square-foot Triangle Building was for years the home to Scottsdale’ City Hall, but in recent decades has primarily housed commercial and service-related businesses. Designer of the Kimsey project is the Houston-based Ryden Architects, working with PEG Development of Provo, Utah. The 2-story Triangle Building, at 7120 E. Indian School Road, was built in 1962. By Garry Boulard |
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