![]() Planning remains underway for the late 2022 construction of a new fire station in the southern Arizona town of Tubac. City leaders and officials with the Tubac Fire District have long said that the current nearly 50-year-old Station 1 at 2227 Interstate 19/Frontage Road is outdated and in need of upgrading. Issues with the existing station include the lack of an automatic sprinkler system, too-narrow garage doors, and restrooms and a kitchen that are not Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. Because upgrading the current station could easily cost more than $1 million, it was determined that building an entirely new facility would be more cost effective. As such, members of the Tubac Fire District Governing Board last summer voted in favor of a new station, with construction pegged to begin by mid-fall. According to plans earlier presented by the Tucson-based WSM Architects, the new station will likely measure around 14,000 square feet, requiring, at least, a two-acre site. The new building will house just under 8,800 square feet of fire truck and garage space, along with office space of nearly 5,300 square feet. Established in 1974, the Tubac Fire District currently has four stations providing coverage to a population of around 10,000 people. By Garry Boulard
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![]() Interest rates may be on track to see another rise in the immediate months to come. James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, remarked that those rates could be upped by at least 1.5% as part of a larger struggle to reign in inflation. Speaking during a conference in New York, Bullard also remarked that if inflation fails to decrease in the foreseeable future, the higher interest rates will remain in place longer than originally anticipated. Overall, Bullard remarked that he wants to see rates by the end of the year in the 3.7% to 4% range. The rate is currently in the 2.2% to 2.5% range. Although a revived Build Back Better bill may be heading for passage in the U.S. Senate, Bullard said he thought a massive stimulus coming out of Washington “appears less likely going forward.” Bullard has long been concerned about the specter of inflation, and publicly warned last year about the danger of what has now turned out to be the most significant rise in inflation since the final year of the presidency of Jimmy Carter when it reached around 14%. As of July, the country’s inflation rate stood at 9.1%. In a separate interview with the tv program Squawk Box, Bullard said of the increased interest rates: “I think we’ll probably have to be higher for longer in order to get the evidence we need that inflation is actually turning around on all dimensions and in a convincing way becoming lower, not just a tick here and there.” By Garry Boulard ![]() A busy shopping center just over 20 miles to the south of Albuquerque is up for sale with a $7.9 million asking price. Located at 2510 Main Street NE near an intersection with New Mexico State Road 47, the one-story Valencia Y Shopping Center was built in 1986 and measures around 92,400 square feet. Classified as a Class B building, the shopping center is currently completely leased with such mainstay tenants as Smith’s Food and Drug; Auto Zone; a Little Caesar’s pizza outlet; and a Dollar General store. Altogether, the shopping center houses 15 tenants. Listed with the Phoenix-based realtor Newmark Knight Frank, the building also includes two exterior loading docks. Such retail centers in Los Lunas are serving a population partly made up of transplants from Albuquerque that has gone from just over 6,000 in the 1990s to around 17,000 today. By Garry Boulard ![]() In a move extending the study and technology of filmmaking to southern New Mexico, studio facilities are set to be built on the Las Cruces campus of New Mexico State University. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, noting spending to the tune of $855 million on film production in the state last year, said the facilities go up inside NMSU’s growing Arrowhead Center, and will be used by students of both the four-year school as well as Dona Ana Community College. That $855 million was up by some 35% over 2021. The facilities will be a part of the Next Generation Media Academy, a certificate program offering film making training and paid apprenticeships. The idea of the academy, supported by most state lawmakers, was officially proposed by Lujan Grisham as part of her 2022 legislative agenda earlier this year. Legislators subsequently approved a $40 million appropriation to open two locations for the academy: one in Albuquerque and the other in Las Cruces. The academy in both locations is expected to include sound stages and technology and materials designed to train students for a variety of jobs in the film, television, and digital media industry. In March, Alicia Keyes, Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Economic Development, predicted that having the academy up and running will “result in well-paying careers for New Mexicans as well as providing a large highly skilled workforce for this industry.” By Garry Boulard ![]() New construction spending was off by 1.1% for the month of June, with both private and public projects seeing declines, according to a new report just issued by the Associated General Contractors of America. Overall construction spending for the month came in at $1.7 trillion. That figure, while down from the previous month, was nevertheless still up by 8.3% from where things stood in June of 2021. Residential spending posted a 1.6% decline from May to June of this year, while public construction spending was down for the second month in a row, by a marginal 0.5%. Nonresidential construction, which in particular includes everything from electric, oil, and gas projects, took a 1.7% hit; while commercial construction, one of the growth segments of 2021, was off by 0.5%. Education construction, too, posted a decline of 0.5%. In a statement, Stephen Sandherr, ACG chief executive officer, maintained that a demand for construction still existed, but it was being offset by “rising materials prices and labor shortages.” Continued Sandherr: “As firms stretch schedules and boost costs to cover rising materials prices, it is getting harder for public and private owners to proceed with some planned projects.” Despite the overall spending decline, the number of people working in the construction industry was up in 248 out of a total 358 metro areas year over year. By Garry Boulard ![]() A spacious stone and concrete residence in Aspen, Colorado has reportedly fetched $48 million on the market. The home, located at 1000 S. Starwood Drive, which according to reports has never actually been lived in, measures nearly 19,000 square feet and includes nine bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, two offices, and an open-plan kitchen and family room. Located on a 2.5-acre site in the gated community of Starwood, some 5 miles to the north of downtown Aspen, the home was earlier listed for $53 million. Owned by one-time money manager Thomas Duckworth and his wife, Connie Duckworth, a former partner of Goldman Sachs, the home was built over a more than ten-year period, and also includes a recreation room, 48-foot long swimming pool, and hot tub. In the early 1990s, the Duckworths purchased a manor house in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, which was subsequently listed on the market in 2019 for $12 million. A city of just over 7,000 people, Aspen enjoys a real estate market that is among the most high-priced in the West. According to the Aspen Daily News, the median home sale in the city last year exceeded $9.5 million. Recent listings in the Starwood community, meanwhile, have ranged between $25 million and $45 million. By Garry Boulard ![]() A new veterans cemetery may be built in northwest Rio Rancho, on a just under 340-acre site just to the south of U.S. Route 550 and east of Northwest Loop Road. The site is currently undeveloped and vacant. The project has been long discussed, with New Mexico Department of Veterans Affairs officials worried that the two existing National Cemetery Administration cemeteries in the state are going to run out of space in the next decade. Those two existing cemeteries are located 200 Camino De Paz in Fort Bayard and 501 North Guadalupe Street in Santa Fe. The Fort Bayard cemetery was established in 1930, while the Santa Fe cemetery dates to the years after the Civil War. The proposed Rio Rancho site is currently owned by the New Mexico State Land Office. To acquire that site, the Veterans Affairs Department will have to bid on it in a public auction conducted by the Land Office. If the State Land Office agrees to proceed with the sale, a notice of public auction would be published at least 10 weeks before the actual auction is held. According to reports, the bidding for the property would start at $2.3 million. There are currently 155 national veterans’ cemeteries in 42 states and Puerto Rico. Two of those cemeteries are in Arizona, 3 in Colorado, and 6 in Texas. By Garry Boulard ![]() A national fast-food restaurant specializing in chicken fingers, sauces, and sesame-seeded bread is on track to build 100 new stores nationally before the end of this year. Launched in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1966, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers as of this spring had opened nearly 620 locations. Earlier this year, the company, which had more than $1.5 billion in revenue in 2020, said it wanted to open outlets in ten regional markets across the country. Those new stores have been going up in California, Indiana, Nevada, and Texas, among other states. The company has additionally just announced that it wants to establish 5 new stores in metro Albuquerque in the next year. Raising Cane stores are either newly built or carved into an existing structures. They generally measure around 2,500 to 3,000 square feet, although some locations have been substantially larger. Earlier this spring, the company opened an 8,500 square foot store in New York City at the corner of W. 44th Street and Broadway. The company’s new 62,000 square foot headquarters in Plano, Texas, comprises 3 stories and houses smart conference rooms and a courtyard with wood decking and both a fire and water feature. By Garry Boulard ![]() A two-day auction is scheduled to begin on September 6 for two modern industrial buildings on the northeast side of Kingman, Arizona. The starting bid for the properties is listed at $1.2 million. Located at 4430 E. Santa Fe Drive, in a part of the city dotted with warehouses and garages, the structures are currently home to the ChromaScape chemical manufacturing company. That company, based in Twinsburg, Ohio, specializes in the production of pigments and colorants used in paper and printing. The main building was built in 1990, with a second structure added in 2014. Combined, the two structures come in at just over 64,400 square feet. Both structures are classified as Class B space. The larger area surrounding the buildings is zoned as an Airport Development District. Sitting on just under 4 acres, the main building includes office space, a maintenance shop, locker room, and production line area. The second structure houses both production line and storage space. The property is being handled by Citywide Commercial Real Estate of Phoenix. By Garry Boulard ![]() A large one-story retail space in Hobbs that currently serves as an outpatient clinic for the U.S. Veterans Affairs Administration is being listed for sale for just over $4.7 million. The structure, measuring nearly 28,300 square feet, is located at 1301 N. Turner Street, several blocks from the Broadmoor Shopping Center and Mall. Built in 1974, the building was formerly an outlet for the Bealls department store chain, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020. The space underwent a $3 million renovation last year, before being opened in November as the new VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic. A portion of the larger structure houses a Buddy’s Home Furnishings outlet. Categorized as a Class B building, the structure sits on a large 2.4-acre site offering up to 64 parking spaces. The property is being listed with the Dallas-based Colliers realtors. By Garry Boulard |
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