A University of New Mexico project that may ultimately cost as much as $400 million to complete has taken an important step forward due to capital outlay legislation recently approved by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
For years officials with the University of New Mexico Hospital, the only Level 1 trauma center in the state, have been talking about the need for an additional facility.
That facility, as proposed, would come in the form of a tower that would most likely go up to the west of the existing UNM Hospital, which is located at 2211 Lomas Boulevard NE.
Earlier this year the school’s Board of Regents approved entering into a nearly $7 million contract with the Austin-based Broaddus & Associates, a facilities consulting and planning company, for construction management services.
The Regents additionally approved spending nearly $34 million for the architectural services of FBT Architects of Albuquerque and HDR Architecture of Omaha to design the project.
Now Governor Lujan Grisham has approved $30 million in state funding, as part of a larger $900 million capital outlay bill, to get the facility built.
An effort is underway to secure additional funding from other sources for the project.
That $30 million is only a part of the overall funding for UNM projects that members of the 2019 New Mexico State Legislature approved for the school.
Lawmakers also gave a green light to $3.5 million for the building of a movement disorders center in Albuquerque; and $1.5 million for upgrading and construction projects on the UNM’s Taos campus.
Additional funding in the amount of $1 million will target facility improvements at the Popejoy Hall performing arts theater; $2 million for the design phase of the new ROTC Complex; and $410,000 for open space improvements for the school’s North Golf Course.
Lujan Grisham vetoed two appropriations approved by the legislature: $500,000 for an Olympic sports training center; and $225,000 for facility work at the school’s College of Fine Arts.
By Garry Boulard
