![]() An effort is underway on the part of a small group of Jewish residents in Las Vegas, New Mexico to purchase a historic synagogue. Located at Eighth Street and Columbia Street, the former Congregation Montefiore structure was built in 1922 and served a Jewish congregation for three decades until being sold to a local Baptist church in 1957. The structure was subsequently purchased by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in the mid-1960s, eventually becoming the St. Paul’s Newman Chapel. The building has now been made available for sale as part of a larger Archdiocese move to dispose of church property in order to financially compensate survivors of sexual abuse. In response, a crowdfunding campaign has been launched to purchase the structure with a goal of raising some $200,000 by the end of this month. To date at least $137,000 has been secured. According to the non-profit group Las Vegas Jewish Community, the fund-raising campaign is an effort to “reclaim a very important piece of New Mexico Jewish history.” If successful, the group plans to use part of the building for traditional religious services, with the rest of the structure serving as a kind of museum of Sephardic Jewish history. The establishment of the Montefiore Congregation, according to author Lee Shai Weissbach in his book Jewish Life in Small-Town America, followed on the heels of Las Vegas serving as a link on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad line, eventually leading to a Jewish population in the city at the turn of the century of around 250 people. By Garry Boulard
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![]() Revenues to the federal government are expected to substantially increase as a factor in President Biden’s new fiscal year budget, largely due to an increase in the nation’s corporate income tax rate. So says the Congressional Budget Office is an overall estimate of the Biden Administration’s group of budgetary proposals submitted to Congress. According to CBO projections, the President’s proposals will ultimately result in a budget deficit of some $13.1 trillion between now and the year 2032. On average, those deficits would be equal to around 4.2% of the Gross National Product. But the CBO report also notes that a national corporate income tax rate, increasing from 21% to 28%, will likely result in higher-than-expected revenues to the federal government. In fact, the Administration is projecting that revenues will average somewhere in the range of 18.3% and 19.0 % of GDP for every year between 2023 and 2027, jumping to 18.7% of GDP between 2028 and 2032. The report also notes that as a share of GDP, mandatory outlays are expected to “decline in 2023 and 2024 and gradually rise thereafter, averaging 14.5% of GDP from 2023 to 2032.” Those outlays, by contrast, have averaged just under 11% for every budget year dating to the 1970s. Discretionary outlays for defense programs, meanwhile, are expected to drop from the current 3% of GDP to around 2.4% by the year 2032. Created during the administration of President Gerald Ford in 1975, the Congressional Budget Office is tasked with providing independent analyses of government budget matters to Congress, producing dozens of reports yearly to Congress and the public. By Garry Boulard ![]() The upper end of the Denver real estate market appears to be alive and well with the recent $7.5 million purchase of a just-under 8,500 square foot home in the city’s Cherry Hills Village neighborhood. That residence, in the 4600 block of Franklin Street, was purchased by the daughter of the Leprino Foods company chairman, and includes six bedrooms and eleven bathrooms, as well as a swimming pool, pool house, and six-car garage. Although there has been speculation that there may be a slight decrease in the asking price of more moderately priced homes in metro Denver, the most expensively listed properties are continuing to sell. According to the Denver Post, a four-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion on Cedar Avenue in Denver just went for $5.1 million, and includes a sauna, poker room, and covered patio complete with a fireplace. A four-car garage on the property features a dog wash station. Other top and current listings in metro Denver include a $15 million, two-story brick building on St. Paul Street that houses four bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. This home in the city’s Cherry Creek North neighborhood is also a historical treasure, having been built in 1891. According to the website Redfin, a modernistic six-bedroom home in the 3000 block of E. Exposition Avenue is being listed for $7.1 million, and includes half a dozen bathrooms, as well as a swimming pool and jacuzzi. But records have been broken with the purchase of what is regarded as the most expensive home in metro Denver: a four-bedroom residence also in the Cherry Hills Village neighborhood that went for $25 million. The buyer? Russell Wilson, quarterback for the Denver Broncos, who two weeks ago signed an extension of his contract with the team valued at $245 million. The 20,000 square foot residence also features a dozen bathrooms, a basketball court, and indoor pool. Additional amenities: a game room and theater. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are underway to redevelop and upgrade a longstanding shopping center in Los Alamos. Located at the intersection of Trinity Drive and 7th Street, the Mari Mac Village Shopping Center has long been a regional favorite, anchored for years by a Smith’s grocery store. Now the Los Alamos-based Columbus Capital company wants to repurpose the former grocery store, which measures around 58,000 square feet, with a portion of that space towards the rear given over to self-storage. The rest of the building, towards the front, will house office and retail space. Plans for the project have been submitted to the Los Alamos County Community Development Department, with a request on the part of Columbus Capital for a special use permit for the self-storage facility to be weighed later this month by the county’s Planning & Zoning Commission. Columbus Capital, which has conducted several public input meetings on its plans, also wants to eventually build housing at the site. That housing, according to published sources, could include up to 400 apartment units. The shopping center was initially opened in early 1978, featuring at the time a 102,000 square foot Safeway Supermarket. By Garry Boulard ![]() A decision may be made just weeks from now regarding where the permanent headquarters of the U.S. Space Command will be made. In early 2021, President Donald Trump announced that the headquarters would be located at the Redstone Arsenal, just outside of Huntsville, Alabama. That decision was made after a protracted reviewing process that ended up seeing six bases as finalists for the Space Command’s primary location, with the Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs thought to be near the top of that list. But in the last year, members of the Colorado congressional delegation have urged the Biden Administration to reject the Alabama base in favor of Peterson as the Space Command’s headquarters. Colorado Governor Jared Polis recently remarked to the Denver Post that “Colorado is the epicenter of national security space and Peterson Space Force Base continues to execute critical missions in the space domain.” A report issued this summer by the Government Accounting Office questioned whether Trump and the Department of Defense had used the correct criteria in selecting the Redstone Arsenal over Peterson. The GAO report additionally identified what it called “significant shortfalls” in both transparency and credibility in the selection of the Alabama base, although it fell short of saying that any laws were violated. The GAO report, however, did not recommend where the Space Force’s headquarters should be located. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has appeared to be receptive to “arguments made by Colorado lawmakers that it would be significantly faster and cheaper to renovate and secure Space Command’s existing facilities rather than to build the whole thing from scratch elsewhere.” Lobbying for Peterson is expected to continue until the Biden Administration makes a final decision in the matter. By Garry Boulard ![]() After protracted discussions, plans have been announced for the redevelopment of the long-standing Park Hill Golf Couse; plans that could see the construction of new housing. An 18-hole course established in 1931, the Park Hill is a well-known and enduring course in northeast Denver. Because of its size at 155 acres, it has long been viewed by realtors and residents, among others, for its redevelopment potential. When the Denver-based Clayton Early Learning, which provides disadvantaged youth education programs and owns the course, announced in 2019 that it was selling the property, a vigorous discussion was sparked regarding the future use of the property. Westside Investments LLC, also of Denver, which ultimately purchased the property for $24 million, has now announced that it plans to build new housing on the site, with a quarter of the planned units defined as affordable. Other portions of the property would be given over to retail and perhaps a library, with upwards of 100 acres left as green space. The affordable factor is a major point given that the course, with more than one hundred trees, is located in a part of the city regarded as historically underserved. Plans for building housing at the course have now been officially unveiled in a public meeting, with the developers hoping to obtain a final approval from the Denver City Council, perhaps later this year. Ultimately, plans for the course will be presented to the voters of the city, most likely sometime in 2023. By Garry Boulard November Will Task Bernalillo County Voters with Wide Variety of Recreation Facility Projects9/14/2022 ![]() Just a little over $11 million in general obligation bonds will be on the November ballot devoted to any number of park and playground improvements and recreation center upgrades in Bernalillo County. The bond proposal, which will appear as Question Number 3 on county ballots, will see $4 million for the planning, design, and building of an aquatic facility at the Raymond G. Sanchez Community building. Another $2.5 million will go for the design and construction of the Swede Scholar Mesa del Sol Regional Outdoor Facility in District 2, a project that is expected to take at least a year to complete. Exactly $500,000 will target planning, design, and construction work at the popular Westside Community Center, a project that will include the building of a lobby, fitness space, and boxing gym. Another $290,000 will be allotted for the upgrading, design, and construction work at any number of ball fields across the county. The parks and recreation bond proposal is one of six questions Bernalillo County voters will decide on as part of a larger $40.5 million general obligation bond. By Garry Boulard ![]() As new home construction prices have reached unprecedented levels in the last year, so too have the empty lots where those homes may eventually be built. According to a new study just released by the National Association of Home Builders, the median lot price nationally is now at $55,000, with some regions of the country far exceeding that figure. In New England, where there is less land to go around, the average lot price reached the $200,000 mark last year. The already expensive states of the Pacific coast came in a distant second at $143,000. In the Mountain states, which in the NAHB study include Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, the average lot price was up to $75,000. The lowest prices were seen in the South Atlantic and East South Central, which includes Alabama and Mississippi, coming in at $42,000. The NAHB study, Single-Family Lot Values Reach Record Highs, notes that the lot prices are “consistent with record lot shortages,” but also influenced by both increased building material costs and supply chain challenges. In late 2021, the NAHB noted in a survey that 76% of responding home builders said the available supply of developed lots in their areas was either low or very low. That 76% was the highest recorded figure in the category since the association first posted the question to builders some two decades ago. Looking at the most recent figures, the NAHB report notes that “lot values are now close to the record levels of the housing boom of 2005-2006.” Then, half of the nation’s available lots were on the market for an average asking price of $43,000. Allowing for inflation since then, that means the average price then was around $57,800. The latest trends lines are additionally fueled by “home building shifted toward small lots,” resulting in record-high prices per acre. By Garry Boulard ![]() A downtown Phoenix site, long the home of an iconic motel, may soon be redeveloped as part of an edgy smart technology hotel. The EV Hotel Group, which is based in Atlanta, says it wants to build its new property at the northwest corner of 6th Avenue and Van Buren Street. The site for years was the home to the City Center Motel, a late 1950s motel exemplifying the era’s Googie architecture that several years ago became part of the Travelodge franchise. Earlier plans to demolish the motel met with resistance from area residents and preservationists who argued that the structure was important historically and should be saved. Now the EV Hotel Group has announced plans to build what will be its first completely automated hotel at the site, allowing for the use of crypto payments, while incorporating the original motel into the design plan. What is being billed as a “tech/automation and crypto hotel,” will feature some 20 smart mirror, showers, speakers, and door locks in each room. In a statement Ken Patel, chief executive officer of the EV Hotel Group, said the company is “focused on reinventing hospitality and distancing itself from the traditional tactics of the industry.” As planned, the new hotel, to be called the EV AI Hotel, will feature upwards of 100 rooms. Reports indicate that the project could cost as much as $27 million to complete, with work beginning sometime in 2023. The EV Hotel Group earlier announced plans to build its smart technology hotels in around a dozen locations across the globe. The Phoenix project will be the company’s first such venture. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans have been announced for construction of a three-story restaurant and bar in the historic Old Town section of Scottsdale that will be built by a growing hospitality management company. The Riot Hospitality Group wants to put up the structure, to be called the Fiesta Restaurant, near Camelback Road and the Saddlebag Trail. As planned, the structure will include a lobby and parking space on the ground floor, and a dining room on the second level. The third and top floor will be given over to a small bar and lounge. As designed by the Phoenix-based architectural firm Bar Napkins Productions, the building will have a sleek look, surrounded by trees and shrubbery. The Riot Hospitality Group, with locations in Chicago, Denver, and Nashville, takes a holistic approach to good times, creating spaces that include restaurants and bars as well as nightclub offerings in lavishly designed settings. By Garry Boulard |
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