Real Estate Review - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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The university selected Austin, Texas-based to build and finance the new student housinfglast week. Kim director of real estate at UNM, said the project will add new dormitoriezs and refurbish existing ones on the central campus. There are currently 2,3000 units of student housing, and UNM President David Schmidly has made it a priorityy to increase student housing on campus to help retainm students and improve theifacademic performance. For a large university, UNM has a low numbe r of on-campus housing units. Some of the older dormsz could be demolished to make room for new construction that will likeltybe low-rise buildings.
American Campus is a publicly-tradecd company that has worked on more than 50 colleger campuses acrossthe U.S. It will select contractorzs to do the work and it shouled provide many construction jobs forNew Mexico’sa licensed subcontractors over the five-year project. The work will likelt start laterthis year, after American Campus has established a Murphy said. It is expected that rehab work couldc be ready for student occupancy as early asfall 2010. Plazq de La Luz opens on city’s Westside Albuquerque’sa newest neighborhood lifestyle center, Plazaa de La Luz, has opened at 5400 Sevillza NW. This center is anchores by a 4,700-square-foot restaurant that openes in March.
It’s the second Jinjaw in the Duke City; the restaurant debuted in the Paseo del Norte retail corridor, where it has been a hit with Northeas t Heights residents. Plaza de la Luz’w other soon-to-open tenants includse and . Developer Tim McNaney has five other storefronts totalinnearly 7,000 square feet availabl e in the 15,000-square-foot center. Rent is $28 a square foot, and McNaney is seeking upscale tenants, such as a jewelry shop or tannint salon. The center features a fountainh and expansive courtyard and is locatedf at the corner of Coors and a half mile south of Coorszand Montaño. is handling the leasing.
“We are very excited to have had the opportunity to bringh this lifestyle center to the Westsideof Albuquerque, said a local developer. “I wanted to offer Albuquerqude the ability tosit outside, enjoyt the incredible views, eat, shop and I feel we have accomplished this goal and are excitec to introduce Albuquerque to Plaza de La Luz” has been buildinvg in the Duke City since 1999. The firm has developedx eight residential and commercial developmentsin Albuquerque. McNanety has invested $3.5 million to buildf the center and sold offa 1.8-acre slice of the five acresd to , which plans to build a brancb at the site.
McNaney is better know as a residential builder througbhhis , and sold the 137 home lots that surround Plazaw de la Luz to builder Rhett Waterman last Will land at ABQ Uptown? The beauty business is supposer to be recession proof while financial servicesx were supposed to be the weak link in the currentg economic downturn. The opposite could be true at ABQ theDuke City’s most upscale shoppinyg venue. With La Bella’s closure at ABQ Uptown this week to consolidatw its operations at itsWestsid site, the question of who will take the spa and salon’d space remains.
The two-story 10,000-square-foot buildinhg is one of the most opulent retail spaceas in theDuke City, specifically built as a pleasurwe palace for the city’s most pamperesd femme fatales. The rumor mill strongly suggeststhat ABQ’s owner Hunt Developmentt is taking a 180 degree turn, by makiny a lease deal with money manager Morgan Stanley, the largest U.S. for the spa/salon space. La Bella had eighg years left onits 10-year lease, but when Hunt offeres La Bella’s owner Dawn Davide a chance to get out of her she took it.
Apparently, Hunt had Morga n Stanley lined up and ready to go into the space that is locatee on the east side ofthe high-end shoppingv center, facing the project’s largestt parking lot. New apartmentds and condos being erected by Hunt on the eastern side of the developmen t are visible fromthe building.