Will the new 116th Congress tackle the often endlessly complicated issue of affordable housing? That is the hope of the National Multifamily Housing Council, which has issued a press release arguing that growth in the country’s multifamily sector is currently burdened with “the overarching issues of housing affordability and regulatory reform.” The Washington-based group adds: “We look forward to working with this Congress to identify new ways to tackle the nation’s housing affordability crisis.” An “existing patchwork of overly complex, costly, duplicative and often counter-productive regulations at all levels of government” the NMHC contends, continues to pose “one of the biggest threats to delivering much-needed housing units across the country.” The group has particularly pledged to work with Congress and the Trump Administration for the reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program, as well as a “housing finance system that ensures the continuation of a federal guarantee and preserves the ability of GSEs to provide the necessary capital financing to the apartment industry.” Those GSEs are government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that provide capital for the development of the nation’s housing market. Doug Bibby, the president of NMHC, has previously noted that current forecasts say the nation will have a shortage of more than 4.6 million apartments by the year 2030. Bibby has suggested that two ways to increase the housing stock is through greater local government involvement and increased public-private partnerships. By Garry Boulard
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The Colorado Springs City Council has unanimously agreed to the selling of some 88 acres that are a part of the city’s airport property. In so doing, the council was approving a resolution that said new facilities on the land in question will “enhance the probability of attracting increased air cargo services” at the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. Those acres, located on the southwest side of the airport’s 900-acre business park, are expected to be purchased by what is currently only being described as a “Fortune 500 corporation.” The council vote came after the city’s Airport Advisory Commission in October requested that the land in question be officially defined as “surplus city property.” Although the buyer of the property has so far not been revealed, the council move comes as online giant Amazon has set up a temporary delivery station in a tent not far from the airport property, just north of the Milton E. Proby Parkway. The land in question is being divided into an 18-acre and 70-acre parcels and are expected to see the construction of both a warehouse and distribution facility. Parties involved with the project say they expect to see construction begin on both buildings early next year. But before any work can start, the land sale still needs the final approval of the Federal Aviation Administration. By Garry Boulard A college whose roots in New Mexico reach back to the late 1950s will soon see its first student housing complex. “We are in the final stages of negotiating and finalizing the pre-development agreement,” says Edward DesPlas of a $25 million partnership that will result in a modern facility designed to house up to 380 students. “Before we even got to the really heavy negotiations in the pre-development agreement, we signed on with Balfour Beatty to spend up to $74,999 in architect and other fees so that we could get the design process rolling,” continues DesPlas, who is the executive vice-president in the office of administrative services for San Juan College. Balfour Beatty is the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, one of the country’s most productive developers and operators of college and university infrastructure projects. What is now a private and public partnership for San Juan College is also a project that has been a long time coming. Founded in 1956 in Farmington as a campus for the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, San Juan College did not become San Juan College until the early 1980s. During all of that time, students at the college lived off campus sometimes in apartments and houses in Farmington or miles beyond. “We’ve had arrangements with some apartments that will house up to four or five students in our branded automotive programs,” says DePlas. “And sometimes our energy program has brought in people from the outside who have either stayed in motels or one of the apartments that we’ve reserved for the students.” But after conducting several studies, showing that students would accept and even embrace having on-campus housing, San Juan College decided to take the plunge, announcing earlier this year a project that will ultimately see mostly four-bedroom, two bathroom units, with a smaller number of two-bedroom, two-bathroom units. Construction on the northwest side of the Farmington campus, not far from the school’s soccer and baseball fields, is slated to begin next spring. But first must come the demolition of a 1,800 square foot fire training tower that has been used for the school’s fire science program since 1983. That roughly $300,000 demolition is being funded by the recent passage of the statewide General Obligation Bond D, providing $5.5 million to the school, money that will also be used for roof replacement projects on the Farmington campus. A new four-story, 4,600 square-foot fire tower is going up on open campus space off of South Hutton Road, and like the old tower, will be used for live fire, search, and rescue training. Approved last month by members of the San Juan College Board, the new student housing project, meanwhile, will see the Fairhope, Alabama-based College Housing Foundation as project owner, which will hold the debt and ground lease for the complex. In deciding to go with Balfour Beatty as project partner, the school picked a construction service whose origin country was launched more than a century ago in Great Britain. As a part of Balfour Beatty Investments, which, in turn, is a division of Balfour Beatty, the Campus Solutions wing of the company has seen the recent construction of a new 900-bed residence hall at the University of Texas at Dallas; a nearly 1,250-room residence hall at the University of Oklahoma; and the 420-bed apartments at the University of Iowa. As planned, the new housing complex at San Juan College will include an office, a laundry facility, and ground floor community space. And with a current enrollment of around 8,000 students, San Juan College may well see additional student housing in the future. “The projections that our consultants who did the marketing and demand study told us that by the time we get this project up and running, with those 380 beds filled almost immediately, we will probably find that there will be an additional demand out there for another 380 beds,” says DesPlas. “We’re actually designing the current project with a second phase in mind,” adds DesPlas. “It will be a stand-alone housing as designed now, but when we do the second phase, it will be like almost a mirror image of the same shape and exterior of the original building on the other side of a huge courtyard.” If all goes according to the announced schedule, the first complex should be finished and ready to accept students in time for the fall 2020 semester. By Garry Boulard In order to push things along, members of the El Paso City Council have voted in favor of a land swap that is ultimately designed to get an indoor water park resort company to move to the city. In a unanimous vote, the council approved purchasing land in northeast El Paso owned by real estate developer and investor Paul Foster in the hope that the Chicago-based Great Wolf Lodge will eventually build there. Although the company, whose resorts also feature restaurants, fitness rooms, and spas, earlier said it had not made a decision regarding the building of a possible location in El Paso, the council said the land deal made good economic sense. In purchasing the 44 acres of property owned by Foster and valued at $18.6 million, El Paso will be getting 2,300 acres that could be used by Great Wolf Lodge. Should Great Wolf Lodge ultimately decide against moving to El Paso, that land, prime real estate not far from I-10, could be used as a lure for another public/private project. By Garry Boulard Capping off more than a year of speculation, Amazon has announced that it will be building its second headquarters in two separate locations: just outside of New York City, and just outside of Washington, D.C. The exact locations are Long Island City, in the borough of Queens, and Crystal City, which is a part of Arlington, Virginia, 7 miles southwest of Washington. The electronic commerce giant said it will spend up to $5 billion building the split headquarters, eventually hiring up to 50,000 people. The decision means that Amazon will soon have three headquarters: the city of its origins in Seattle, and the new Long Island and Arlington locations. In a statement, Amazon said chief executive officer Jeff Bozos said the two locations “will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities.” Amazon announced in the fall of 2017 that it wanted to build a second headquarters, setting off a frenzied and unprecedented campaign involving hundreds of cities and locations across North America who were interesting in landing the company. Ultimately, Albuquerque, Denver, El Paso, and Phoenix all made pitches, with Denver earlier this year landing on the company’s finalists’ list. Officials in Denver are saying that they think the Mile High City lost out because it wasn’t that far away from Amazon’s original headquarters and that reportedly the city, working with Colorado officials, offered incentives of less than $100 million. But those same officials are also saying that Denver, by making the finalists’ list, received millions of dollars in free publicity nationally. That publicity, said Sam Bailey, the vice-president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, has also spurred other companies to consider moving to Denver and Colorado. Despite the decision, Amazon remains a huge presence in metro Denver with a sorting center and fulfillment center in Aurora, delivery center in Centennial, PrimeNow Center in Denver, and additional fulfillment center in Thornton. Although outgoing Governor John Hickenlooper had earlier expressed reservations about Denver or Colorado actually securing Amazon’s second headquarters, he said the bid to get the facility turned out to be a good thing for Colorado. “We used the application as an opportunity to come together across sectors and evaluate what’s best about our state,” Hickenlooper said in the wake of the Amazon Long Island/Arlington announcement. “We came together on areas where we have a shared commitment to grow,” the Governor added. By Garry Boulard Well over half of the people working in Santa Fe have to live elsewhere due to the city’s higher housing costs, while of those who have remained, some 6,000 individual households are spending more than half of their monthly income on rent. Those are two of the findings of a report put together by an advisory group and officially presented to the Santa Fe City Council, looking at the growing issue of housing affordability in New Mexico’s fourth largest city. The Affordable Housing and Livable Neighborhoods Advisory Group was appointed earlier in the year by Mayor Alan Webber and tasked with looking at the full dimensions of the housing problem and suggesting possible solutions. Although earlier attempts in the city have been made to make more affordable housing available, says the report, the problem in Santa Fe “has gotten worse in recent years, negatively affecting the well-being of families, neighborhoods, and the economy.” Entitled Strengthening Households and Neighborhoods by Supporting a Healthy Housing Spectrum, the document bluntly characterizes the city’s housing availability as a crisis, adding that “Hundreds of Santa Feans are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.” The report specifically notes that in the category of rental space for working poor or low-income families, Santa Fe needs a minimum of 5,000 units that currently don’t exist. Just under half of that number, it is recommended, should target those with household incomes of less than $25,000 annually. The report additionally suggests that the city’s inclusionary zoning program should be updated in order to spur the construction of more “income-appropriate” rental units; and that public land be used for affordable apartment construction. Also recommended: incentivizing new housing development through simplified and expedited land use review, and altering the Santa Fe’s land use code in order to allow for higher density infill subdivisions that could see both single-family home and multi-unit rental housing. Santa Fe would also do well, the report suggests, by following the lead of other cities in setting up an annual affordable housing trust fund. Providing a wider availability of affordable housing options, the report suggests, would also help to address another issue confronting Santa Fe: homelessness. But what Santa Fe needs more than anything else, the report maintains, is additional apartment space, noting that a shortage of market-rate rental units is “pushing up the rental rates across the price spectrum and putting pressure on families with lower incomes who are in the same market for the available supply.” By Garry Boulard In an effort to increase its affordable housing stock, city leaders in Longmont, Colorado are pushing for a law requiring that a certain percentage of new housing projects must have space for median-income residents. Members of the Longmont City Council say that both a growing population and upped housing prices and rentals are making it increasingly difficult for residents making 60 percent of area median income or less to find adequate housing. In response, the proposed ordinance would mandate that at least 12 percent of any new development must be set aside for affordable units or space. As proposed, the ordinance, which at this time is only a draft prepared by city staff, would also cover residents buying homes who are making 80 percent of area median income. With input from Longmont developers and realtors, the proposed ordinance would allow for developers to opt out of the mandate by paying into a city affordable housing fund $7.90 in fees per square foot. Developers could also shift the 12 percent mandate from one project to another, or give over to Longmont land that would be equal in value to the required fees. In a website posting, Barbara Koelzer, the regional government affairs director for the Longmont Association of Realtors, noted that while such inclusionary housing initiatives are “becoming more and more complicated with every discussion, the good news is that the City Council is listening to the concerns of developers.” Longmont’s population has jumped from just over 71,000 in 2000 to more than 93,000 today. With that boom has come an increase in area rents, which today average out to $1,300 a month, while the average price of a home has gone from $250,000 four years ago to just under $390,000 today. A final vote by the Longmont City Council on the proposed ordinance is expected to be made on November 27. By Garry Boulard Solar photovoltaic technicians and solar photovoltaic installers are expected to see a roughly 100 percent growth in employment over the course of the next eight years. While every employment segment associated with infrastructure work will see marked increased employment opportunities, those two professions are forecast to experience the most dramatic gains. Such numbers have been compiled by a new report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which also show job gains in the 10 to 20 percent range for environmental engineering technicians, electrical power-line installers, pile-driver operators, and heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers. Pipelayers and earth drillers are also forecast to see job gains just short of 20 percent. The report, The Employment Outlook for Occupations Tasked with Building America’s Infrastructure, authored by economist Patricia Tate, additionally notes that “overall, infrastructure-related occupations pay well. Most have median annual wages higher than the median for all occupations, which was $37,690 in May 2017.” Construction managers, on average, are currently earning the highest wages in the infrastructure world, with sales of more than $91,000 annually. Landscape architects, power-line installers, and cost estimators are among the infrastructure industry professions expected to average between $60,000 and $80,000 annually in the next 8 years. Meanwhile, civil engineers, environmental engineers, and health and safety engineers will all be in the above $80,000 category. The report concludes by noting that the “nation’s demand for new infrastructure and the maintenance and improvements of existing infrastructure will help to drive the demand for these occupations.” By Garry Boulard A project that will deliver a regular and clean supply of water to major portions of eastern New Mexico is receiving more than $4.3 million in federal funding for fiscal year 2019. That funding is coming through the federal Bureau of Reclamation. The Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Supply Project is designed to deliver potable water to a wide number of locations on the east side of the state including the counties of Curry and Roosevelt, as well as the cities of Clovis, Elida, Grady Melrose, Portales and Texico. Perhaps most crucially, the system will supply water for big Cannon Air Force Base, seven miles to the west of Clovis, which is currently home to more than 4,400 active duty service members and nearly 6,000 family members. Last month, New Mexico Senators Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall pushed for expanded funding for the project above the $99 million that had previously been secured in discretionary funds. Altogether, the big water project has now received more than $20 million in support from Washington. In a statement, Heinrich said, “Access to adequate, clean, and affordable water means that cities in eastern New Mexico can bustle with activity, our farmers and ranchers can grow local food, and Cannon Air Force Base can continue to play a vital role in protecting our national security.” The new funding will specifically target the building of the projects Finished Water Two and Finished Water Three. That work comprises the initial Interim Ground Water Project, which is needed because it will provide pipeline water while work on the larger Ute Water Project continues. That project is expected to one day contain up to 16,450-acre feet of renewable surface water on an annual basis. The overall Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System Project includes 150 miles of conveyance pipelines, an intake structure designed to handle 25,000 acre feet, a 1 million gallon storage tank, and water booster stations in the towns of Grady, Elida, and Melrose. Preliminary work on the massive project began more than a decade ago, with actual construction on phase 1 of the Ute Reservoir Intake Facility launching in the winter of 2013. By Garry Boulard Despite objections from nearby residents, a one-time Ramada Hotel in Monument, Colorado may soon have a new life as a luxury rehab center. The El Paso County Planning Department has given a green light to the renovation of the hotel site, which is actually four separate buildings, at 1865 Woodmoor Drive. The 5.1-acre site, with a total building size of more than 60,000 square feet, was purchased for $4 million earlier this year by Sunshine Behavioral Health. That San Juan Capistrano, California-based company specializes in substance abuse treatment and recovery programs, offering their services in sober living environments. According to county documents, the former hotel, built in 1972, would house some 54 beds inside a campus-like setting. What is being called Mountain Springs Recovery will see new landscaping and the building of a 7-foot tall cedar fence separating the complex from its neighbors. Area residents expressed concerns about the possible drug use or criminal activity of those residing at Mountain Springs Recovery, but Sunshine Behavioral Health officials said the program is open only to those who voluntarily admit themselves, with participants expected to stay no more than 30 days. The project must now be reviewed by the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department before any facility work can actually begin at the site. By Garry Boulard |
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