New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Signet Development, in partnership with the University of New Mexico (UNM), has broken ground on Lobo Rainforest, a $35 million, 160,000-square-foot living-learning community located within the planned Innovate ABQ district in downtown Albuquerque. The six-story property will house over 300 UNM students studying in entrepreneurial education programs. Signet will own and develop the property through a lease arrangement with UNM, which will manage and operate the facility. The property will also be home to UNM’s Innovation Academy, meeting and collaboration rooms, and several business startup organizations including Innovate New Mexico and STC.UNM’s Joseph L. Cecchi VentureLab business incubator. Other tenants will include the Air Force Research Laboratory and various retail outlets. Dekker/Perich/Sabatini is the architect for the project, and Jaynes Cos. is the construction group. The property is scheduled for completion in August 2017.

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SANTA FE, N.M. — UJAS Santa Fe LLC has purchased a 130-room DoubleTree by Hilton in Santa Fe for an undisclosed sum. The hotel is located at 4048 Cerrillos Road. It was built in 1986 and renovated in 2012. The DoubleTree also features 4,500 square feet of meeting space, on-site dining, a business center, gift shop and indoor/outdoor pool. Mike Kelly and Brandon Miller of Ten-X and Daniel MacDonnell and Eric Melendez-Lluch of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, an affiliate of the Hotel Group, in this transaction.

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ALBUQUERQUE — The Community Development Trust, an affordable housing REIT, and YES Housing Inc., an affordable housing operator, have formed a joint venture to recapitalize three YES-operated properties in New Mexico. CDT will invest $4.5 million to preserve 262 units of affordable Section 8 seniors housing in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Roswell. The money will fund improvements and preserve affordability at the properties, which are reserved for seniors earning below 60 percent of the area median income. The first property to receive improvements will be the 60-unit Wildewood Apartments in Roswell. CDT and YES acquired the property earlier this month using Freddie Mac financing through Hunt Mortgage Group. The JV plans to make $300,000 in capital improvements to the asset, which was built in 1978 and renovated in 2000. The other two properties were not disclosed, as the acquisitions are still pending.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Cain Brothers has arranged $40 million in taxable bank direct-purchase bonds for The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, a nonprofit operator of seniors housing based in Sioux Falls. Founded in 1922, the society operates skilled nursing facilities, senior apartments, home health services and affordable housing in over 230 locations in the United States. Proceeds from the financing were used to pay down a line of credit that was initially drawn upon to fund the purchase of a home health agency that provides services in New Mexico and Arizona. The acquisition more than doubled the society’s existing home health business. Cain Brothers arranged the financing through an undisclosed bank.

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Houlihan-Parnes has arranged a $9.1 million refinancing for Ladera Shopping Center, a 128,712-square-foot shopping center located in Albuquerque. Ed Graf of Houlihan-Parnes secured the five-year loan. The center is currently 95 percent occupied by 23 tenants including John Brooks Supermarket, Dollar Tree, Taco Cabana, Bank of Albuquerque, Planet Fitness, the UPS Store, Supercuts, H&R Block and T-Mobile. Burger King occupies a pad site.

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Multifamily housing is coming of age in New Mexico, and the Millennial generation is spurring the growth. The old adage of “location, location, location” is ever present as the placement of a property in relation to cultural, educational, entertainment and natural amenities becomes a major factor in the value of the property. The ability to walk and bike to social amenities like restaurants, theaters and schools is, and will continue to be, very high on the list of importance for members of this generation in New Mexico. There is not only a distinguishable difference in occupancy rates for units scoring high on Millennial’s wish lists, but the income for these units is between 20 percent and 24 percent higher than those with lower scores. While newly constructed and refurbished multi-housing units often appeal to Millennials, all of New Mexico is experiencing high occupancy rates throughout the multifamily market. This push on availability is fueling an environment that will continue to encourage increasing rents and new construction. Though the sale of multifamily properties was deeply affected by the recession, a market shift in 2013 has allowed the multifamily market to regain its footing with a two- to three-times increase in sales …

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The industrial market had a notable year in 2014. Vacancy declined 270 basis points from the first quarter of 2014 where nearly 1 million square feet of space was absorbed. It has been more than seven years since absorption has registered similar figures. The primary factor driving last year’s success was a handful of large deals with more than 50,000 square feet. The supply of larger, quality spaces was steadily leased up throughout the year. These accounted for 54 percent, or 522,000 square feet, of absorbed space. Market velocity slowed down during the fourth quarter, driven by a lack of quality inventory. Absorption registered a positive 103,000 square feet, and was the lowest quarterly level of 2014. The centrally located North I-25 submarket outshined all other submarkets. In the biggest deal of the quarter, Flagship Foods occupied nearly 79,000 square feet of space in the North I-25 submarket. There were also nine other spaces occupied in this submarket that contributed another 60,000 square feet of absorption. A developing concern for 2015 is the significant amount of new available space being brought to market. Although still occupied, a total of 244,000 square feet of new space was added to the inventory …

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The New Mexico retail market is continuing to change in a positive manner, which bodes well for property owners and businesses. There are new national, regional and local tenants looking at this market, moving in and around the shopping centers of New Mexico. New shopping centers are being built, while existing shopping centers are being redeveloped and traded. Some of the most significant transactions include Columbus Pacific acquiring Sierra Vista Shopping Center in Albuquerque and moving Stein Mart and Hobby Lobby into a former K-Mart space. Pete Daskalos Properties has also purchased Four Hills Village Shopping Center on Central and Tramway in the Southeast Heights submarket. The center now has a new movie cinema, among other changes to its anchors and tenant roster. A K-Mart building at Rio Rancho at Hilltop Plaza Shopping Center was also sold after the store vacated. The new landlord is looking to re-anchor that space as well. These big box vacancies have created redevelopment opportunities for existing shopping centers located in established trade centers while rents are increasing as the larger spaces are subdivided and leased to other tenants. This has created momentum in the market and upward pressure on asking lease rates. Other retailers …

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – West Central Plaza Shopping Center, a 123,048-square-foot retail center in Albuquerque, has sold to Heslin Holdings for $12 million. The center is located at 4208 Central Ave. SW. The property was formerly home to Kmart, which vacated the space last year. It also includes a number of smaller retail tenants in an adjacent multi-tenant building. A restaurant occupies a third building. Heslin will re-tenant the 104,000-square-foot facility vacated by Kmart. The company will likely re-configure the space to accommodate multiple tenants. The smaller buildings will also be upgraded and expanded. The seller, West Central Plaza, was represented by CBRE’s Jeremy Nelson, Lia Armstrong and Jim Dountas. The CBRE retail team was retained by Heslin to assist in the center’s leasing and redevelopment efforts. The firm made a $12-million investment in the property, which includes the costs of acquisition, redevelopment and re-tenanting, as part of a value-add investment strategy.

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