New Retail Development in Las Cruces
Jeff Loe – LC Sun-News
LAS CRUCES – The Las Cruces City Council’s approval Monday of a conveyance of a 16.57-acre former golf driving range, at 2834 N. Telshor Blvd., means a significant downtown redevelopment project, including retail, can proceed.
The council’s 7-0 vote during Monday’s council meeting allows GMB Investments Inc., of El Paso, to proceed with construction of The Amador, a retail facility that will include a restaurant, bar, coffee shop, entertainment venue, and new headquarters for the Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Amador will be built on the northwest corner of Main Street and Amador Avenue, where My Brother’s Place restaurant was located for decades.
Before The Amador could be built, the city had to transfer ownership of the former Tee Time driving range to GMB Investments, which has plans to develop that property into a retail center. The driving range is at the northern end of the Las Cruces Dam, a flood control project built in 1975 by the Army Corps of Engineers.
In early May, the council gave former city manager, Robert Garza, authority to negotiate a contract after GMB Investments presented an unsolicited proposal to the city to redevelop the former My Brother’s Place property, just east of the historic Amador Hotel. One of the major conditions of the agreement was the city’s transfer of the parcel on north Telshor to GMB Investments.
The contract stipulated GMB Investments would purchase the former Tee Time property for $2,201,457. All of proceeds will go to the city’s Flood Control Fund, which can only be used to pay for new, or future, flood control projects.
“If we had sold this a few years back it would be worth a lot more (than it is) now,” Mayor Ken Miyagishima said Monday. “But that’s the way things happen.”
The transfer of the property’s ownership will happen in the next 45 to 90 days.
Max Bower, GMB Investments vice president, said the land transfer needed to happen before his company could begin full-scale construction of The Amador. Construction is anticipated to begin early next year, but the start could hinge on the city’s plans, and time line, to convert Water and Church streets to two-way traffic.
The former My Brother’s Place property has been cleared, and a former drive-up banking facility at the north end of the Amador Hotel has been razed in preparation of the start of construction of The Amador.
Monday, the council also approved a new schedule of fees and charges for various classes, workshops, camps and other programs offered by the city’s museum system. “The proposed fee schedule will only increase revenues slightly,” said a portion of city document.
Also Monday the council adopted a resolution in support of continued federal ownership and management of public lands in Doña Ana County. The resolution also states the city of Las Cruces “does not favor” the transfer of federal lands to the state of New Mexico because of the likely financial burden that would be placed on state residents. The resolution is similar to one recent approved by the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners.
The council also approved beer and wine licenses for A Bite of Belgium, 741 N. Alameda Blvd., and Sakura Japanese Hibachi Grill & Sushi Bar, 3961 E. Lohman Ave.
The council also requested two proposed ordinances be presented to them for formal consideration, and possible approval, at the Nov. 7 meeting. The ordinances could enable X2nSat Corp. to expand its satellite communications business at the West Mesa Industrial Park.
One ordinance proposes the sale of 12.6 acres at the industrial park for $315,057. Another ordinance proposes support of a $150,000 investment to X2nSat. The company has agreed to create 45 jobs within the next three years.
By: Steve Ramirez (Las Cruces Sun-News)
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