Whats going on in Bernalillo? (Santa Fe, Rio Rancho: lofts, how much, townhouses)

[_yb]

It looks like the flying star is building in Bernalillo. They are building a 169 seat restaurant, twelve one-thousand sq feet retail spaces and twelve eighteen-hundred-square-foot residential lofts. Right across from the wine festival grounds.
Bernalillo must be really growing.

[lacey]

Yeah, Bernalillo is growing. This is due to the fact that Corrales and the North Valley have become overpriced, Placitas and Rio Rancho are within minutes of Bernalillo and developers see an opportunity to once again force people out of where their famlies have lived for many years, gobble up the land for cheap and turn around and sell for much more $ to those that tend to be trendy. This happened in Santa Fe as well.

[LLD]

Hmmm... I hadn't heard this. But I do know there are plans by a couple of different builders like Wallen to build more subdivisions like they did right next to the Railrunner service. I think the revitalization or gentrification if you will, has begun in Bernallilo. Nothing stays the same -- progress is going to happen. And I had heard that some of the planning was to try to have housing at various price points to deal with different income levels. That is the responsible way of planning - I hope they follow through with that.

[Siouxlander]

Originally Posted by lacey

Yeah, Bernalillo is growing. This is due to the fact that Corrales and the North Valley have become overpriced, Placitas and Rio Rancho are within minutes of Bernalillo and developers see an opportunity to once again force people out of where their famlies have lived for many years, gobble up the land for cheap and turn around and sell for much more $ to those that tend to be trendy. This happened in Santa Fe as well.

NO kidding. Santa Fe is starting, sadly, to become a pretentious place; it's gentrified with a capital G.

[Zoidberg]

Santa Fe becoming pretentious?

I'd say it became pretentious 10-15 years ago, but it's all a matter of degree.

If you wait long enough, places either gentrify or they rot. NM is full of areas that rot because no one else wants to live there.

I don't necessarily think it's sad to see Santa Fe gentrified. There may be a lot of out-of-staters moving there, but that's the case with most of NM. Any town that size with its own opera, that many art museums, and direct access to lawmakers is geared toward the gentry when you think about it. It's probably better to have a high-class state capital than something more like Juarez.

[LLD]

I think most people have this negative connotation of gentrification -- I don't necessarily. I remember when Hoboken, NJ was rotten and broken down and people started coming in refurbishing townhouses and lots of young professionals that could never afford anything in NYC snapped the the townhouses up. So that's a good thing.

I've seen old broken down neighborhoods all over the US in various cities get revitalized and I think it's a good thing. Yes there are always affordability issues but that is where I think good planning comes in -- planning different price points etc.

I believe there is a section in DC right now being redone -- and they are trying to offer long time city residents the change to get in on the ground floor for say $100K or $200K which is unbelievable considering how much things in other parts of DC cost.

I know Corrales is sure different than when I was here before 7 years ago -- nice house on one acre for $160K is not $300K easily. And the cost in Placitas has skyrocketed -- mainly because lots of Californians came here and though $400/500K was a drop in the bucket and they had the money after selling their houses in CA for astronomical prices.

Santa Fe has seen some of the same thing happen. When I was in Houston over Christmas I was floored to see the prices in a section of town called Bellaire -- another area getting revitablized. Last night on HGTV I saw this wild house that was built in the 4th ward of Houston -- that was the ghetto! And people are reclaiming many run-down areas in lots of cities.

Bernallilo has many not so nice looking areas -- and I'm not being snobby, I just mean run down or old and not well planned etc. Building nicer neighborhoods will boost the local economy and bring more business too. And some of the locals often sell their places and make some nice money so they can buy another place too. There can be many positives in revitalization if it is done in a responsible and well planned way. That's my opinion anyway. :-)