Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I just drove to Albuquerque from Las Cruces on I-25 for some Xmas shopping. I noticed that right on the freeway, going through Belen, one town south of Los Lunas, a massive subdivision was in the process of being built. Being a realtor myself, I found this to be quite shocking. It seemed as if similar to Los Lunas, Belen was kind of in a holding pattern for many years. But, it looks like things are really starting to cook now.
Sad to hear about confederacist flags. ABQ is one area my wife and are looking at for a possible move in the future (next year or 2) due to TX craziness (the Trumper Gov, AG, Cruz, Gohmert, abortion bounty hunters, govt control over what schools can teach, etc.).
It is sad. The vehicles I've seen doing this have dark tinted windows and will travel in such a way not to have to stop. One thing to practice the 1st Amendment, but to do it in hate or to provoke hate is new here.
Yes, many are nice. There are some coming from the Mid-West states, the South, the Northeast and of course California. The culture is slowly changing from how I remember it growing up in Valencia County in the late 70's/80's. Positive change is good and healthy. Some of the negative stuff is disappointing.
I just drove to Albuquerque from Las Cruces on I-25 for some Xmas shopping. I noticed that right on the freeway, going through Belen, one town south of Los Lunas, a massive subdivision was in the process of being built. Being a realtor myself, I found this to be quite shocking. It seemed as if similar to Los Lunas, Belen was kind of in a holding pattern for many years. But, it looks like things are really starting to cook now.
That sub-division has been in the works for about 2 years. Not a whole lot new going on in Belen proper. I am hopeful that my hometown will come back and grow along with Los Lunas. Maybe one day Belen and Los Lunas will meet along I-25.
There was reporting last year about how Valencia County was a bellwether county, which voted for the winning President in every election going back a long time. Except last year it broke with that tradition, voting for Trump by a wide margin over Biden. I'm not sure what could account for that change, except that I think there are retirees who move to the area. Or that populism takes hold easily in rural counties with low education levels.
Big corporations moving in will ruin these small communities.
Albuquerque Business First reported yesterday about the construction project in Los Lunas that's most assuredly an Amazon project. They weren't able to get official confirmation that it is for Amazon, but they did get some details about the project. It's a more than $114 million "distribution center" project that will encompass 1.5 million sq ft and employ "hundreds" of people.
In the article Los Lunas' senior economic development director says this project will attract others to the area.
A commercial development company with ties to Amazon has broken ground on its latest New Mexico project. This one, located in Los Lunas, is valued at more than $100 million and expected to create hundreds of jobs, according to building permits and sources close to the deal.
The tenant of the project remains a mystery but goes by the code name "Project Charlie" on building permits and by the parties involved.
Phoenix-based BH DevCo is the development firm behind the project. It also was behind the two Amazon projects in Albuquerque: a fulfillment center and a sortation center on the Westside.
BH DevCo tasked the Colliers International Albuquerque brokerage team of Bob Feinberg and Tom Jones to find a site for its next project in New Mexico, the brokers told Business First. That new site is located to the west of Facebook's data center campus off of New Mexico State Road 6.
Los Lunas senior economic developer Kristen Gamboa said a distribution center is under construction at the site. She declined to disclose the name of the tenant BH DevCo is building for.
"It will not only bring more infrastructure to our industrial parks that have been basically just land to this point — it will draw other large and smaller economic-based projects," Gamboa said of Project Charlie's potential impact. "The fact that it is a distribution center and not necessarily manufacturing means that they won't be using a large amount of water. They will employ several hundred people. … Overall, it feels like a win-win at this point."
A drive past the site reveals signage for Minneapolis-based general contractor Ryan Companies along the fence. The land is located at 6251 Pioneer Trail NW. A search of Valencia County parcels shows Huning Limited Partnership as the owner.
Here's the most recent video of the project construction.
Valencia County may finally be getting its own hospital. The state legislature is considering a more than $500 million bill to spend some of the state's federal pandemic relief funds. The bill includes $50 million to build a new hospital in a county with less than 100,000 residents. This will most likely be in Valencia County.
That sub-division has been in the works for about 2 years. Not a whole lot new going on in Belen proper. I am hopeful that my hometown will come back and grow along with Los Lunas. Maybe one day Belen and Los Lunas will meet along I-25.
Below is a nice project in Belen that I saw was completed a few months back. It's a Great Blocks landscaping and lighting project along Main Street around the nice historic structures like the Hotel Belen.
Belen is home to internationally famous and noted artist Judy Chicago. It would be neat for the town to embrace her more and build an incredible arts scene with her presence as the catalyst. There's been efforts by her and others to bring art into the limelight in Belen but some of those efforts have unfortunately gotten shut down by the town residents over the years.
The town did have a nice public art experience crafted by Judy Chicago earlier this year in the summer. I hope it's one of many more such art events in Belen.
One good thing about growth and outsiders moving in is that it tends to help broaden horizons and open minds to new things and keeps places from stagnating in various ways.
Belen is home to internationally famous and noted artist Judy Chicago. It would be neat for the town to embrace her more and build an incredible arts scene with her presence as the catalyst. There's been efforts by her and others to bring art into the limelight in Belen but some of those efforts have unfortunately gotten shut down by the town residents over the years.
The town did have a nice public art experience crafted by Judy Chicago earlier this year in the summer. I hope it's one of many more such art events in Belen.
One good thing about growth and outsiders moving in is that it tends to help broaden horizons and open minds to new things and keeps places from stagnating in various ways.
Judy did open her "Through the Flower Art Space" in Belen a few years ago, which depended on some city funding (I've been there). It was controversial because some of her art is feminist and sexually graphic and many residents thought it was inappropriate for their small town. I'm not sure how much more the town can "embrace" her.
Here's a quote from the article which gets to how the town could embrace her and become a small-town arts mecca.
Quote:
It’s too soon to say whether the small art space they recently debuted will do for Belen what Donald Judd has done for Marfa in West Texas—creating an art destination in the midst of the tumbleweeds—but by late summer, Chicago reported that guests were spending hours at a time in the gallery.
Becoming an arts mecca is something that would help Belen keep a unique identity while also being prosperous and vibrant. It would keep it from becoming just another dying small town or having to hitch its future on becoming just another suburb of Albuquerque. Not many small towns have an artist of her reputation and world renown to build off of for something like this.
I would recommend a visit to the Harvey House Museum in Belen. It is an interesting place to visit, especially if you want to learn more about the Harvey Girls and Harvey Houses. We visited when the Bugg Christmas lights were there on display, but they've been moved about three blocks away (and on display now)..
Chicago's art space is tiny-- hard to imagine people spending "hours" there. Santa Fe is already the international arts destination for New Mexico which West Texas doesn't have. I can't see Texans flocking to Belen the way they do to Santa Fe.
I agree the Harvey House Museum in Belen is well done and worth a visit.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
