ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It was always eyed as a place to build more housing in Albuquerque but has never taken shape until now. The City of Albuquerque is helping increase housing near Highland High School by replacing a dirt lot with new townhomes.
“It was a vacant piece of property that had never been built on and right in the core of downtown, I was excited to see what I could do,” said Evan Davis, owner-developer.
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The once-vacant lot at Silver and Jefferson is now called Ocotillo Ridge. It’s made up of 20 total units that will be rented for roughly 1,400 a month for one bedroom or 1,700 for a two-bedroom unit. “We are seeing more and more of these in the high-interest rate environment that we have the tax abatement we provide really helps developers,” said Terry Brunner, Director of CABQ Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency.
Albuquerque’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency is supporting the project through tax abatements, which will save the developer about $167,000 across seven years. They hope the project entices more development. “It’s huge, it gives people hope that things are going in the right direction in our town, and we are adding more housing,” said Brunner.
The city says there are a handful of lots in the area, which have been vacant for decades. “That’s crazy in a city of our size in the center of the city here to have lots that are still dirt and undeveloped at this time,” said Brunner.
“Our city in the midst of a housing crisis we really focused on this last year as a policy perspective, and we said basically we need 20 thousand new units in Albuquerque,” said Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller.
Developers say they’re just a few weeks away from letting families move into the units. They’re still working on application processes.
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