El Paso/Borderland Development News

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KROD


El Paso City Council Approves Proposal To Demolish City Hall To Build New AAA Baseball Stadium

A plan by El Paso investor Paul Foster to replace City Hall with a $50 million, 9,000 - 10,000 seat AAA baseball park won city council approval on Tuesday. The plan calls for the 33 year old, City Hall to be razed and the new stadium constructed by 2014. The city government would be temporarily housed downtown while plans for a new city hall building are developed.

The City Hall site:

http://elpasodevnews.blogspot.com/20...-hall-for.html


http://elpasonaturally.blogspot.com/

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Nordstrom Rack Signs Onto Fountains At Farah

Nordstrom Rack this week became the first retailer to reveal itself as a tenant of the upcoming Fountains at Farah shopping center in east El Paso. Nordstrom, Inc., announced that the store will occupy approximately 35,000 square feet of space at the new center and will open in fall of 2013 when construction is scheduled for completion.

Conceptual image of Nordstrom Rack store at The Fountains.
According to unofficial renders, the store will be located in the eastern section of the center with other big box retailers. The center's architecture may include a modern aesthetic, and the conceptual image of the Nordstrom Rack store is in line with this design style.

Location of Nordstrom Rack within the center.
Now that a future Fountains at Farah tenant has made an announcement, other retailers may now feel comfortable making their intentions known to the public as well. In addition, this strong retail presence may entice other on-the-fence retailers to come on board with the center. Look for additional announcements in the coming months.

Nordstrom Rack is the discount arm of Nordstrom stores, offering merchandise at a higher discount than that seen in regular Nordstrom department stores.

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Northeast El Paso Retirement Community On The Boards

The Public Service Board's master planned retirement community adjacent to Painted Dunes Golf Course may begin construction as soon as next year, according to a newly released Master Zoning Plan. The 427 acre development will be built in three phases, with Phase 1 starting in 2013. Construction on all phases should be complete by 2023, according to the plan's timeline.

The layout of the community will be a gently curving grid, with several pedestrian and bicycle paths following north-south and east-west streets. Higher density buildings will be located towards the center of the development creating a small town center which will be highlighted by a central park and a civic building that will serve as a visual landmark. Densities will decrease outward from this area, transitioning from apartments/condos to town homes and row houses to single-family homes towards the outer edges of the community. A row of senior apartment buildings will line the golf course.

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Newest Aldea Masterplan Reveals Changes, Districts

The developer for the future Aldea El Paso smart code project has made several tweaks to the latest version of the Master Site Plan, including relocating two hotel sites and grouping areas into distinctive districts. And a new map shows the combined area of both the Aldea and Montecillo smart code developments, which are adjacent to each other but have two different developers.

The districts now defined by the plan are: the Rambla district, which is the town center part of the development; an office district which lines both sides of Mesa Park Blvd.; the Walmart district, which now includes a smaller building in the parking lot, most likely a destination restaurant; an anchor retail district, which is to the south of the Walmart area; a freeway retail district; two housing districts; two hotel districts which look to include two large hotels and possible ancillary buildings; and two retail/housing districts that serve as entryways into the development from Mesa. The final large district is labeled "Campus" and is defined by the number of beds available. It is unclear what the focus of this district will be, but the name may denote some sort of school. A separate "convenience center" will be located at the corner of Executive Blvd and Interstate 10.

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Americas interchange Seven Months From Completion

If all goes as planned, the current work on the interchange under construction at Interstate 10 and Loop 375 on the east side should be completed in seven months time. This includes the three direct connectors that are part of the project: eastbound I-10 to northbound Loop 375; southbound 375 to westbound I-10; and northbound 375 to westbound I-10.

The years-long project has had January 2013 as its target completion date since it began, and those involved with the project have previously stated that they expect to make or beat the deadline.

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El Cruzero To Transform Far East El Paso Desert

A new 228 acre mixed use development is slated for far east El Paso which will incorporate new Smart Code rules. El Cruzero Town Center will be built at the northeast corner of Montana Ave and Joe Battle (Loop 375), and will be comprised of two mixed-use areas, a Regional Center Development and a Traditional Neighborhood Development.

Components of the project will include multi- and single-family housing, mixed use commercial, parks, open space, and parts of a mass transit system. The developer will also partner with a school district in order to create a school.



Wright & Dalbin Architects has been chosen as the architectural firm for El Cruzero. The firm has previously worked directly with the City of El Paso on the Alamito Apartments located in South El Paso.



Cruzero Development, LLC, entered into a Chapter 380 Economic Development Agreement with the City in April of 2011 which will provide the developer with tax break incentives in order to make the project a reality. According to the city, construction must begin within 24 months of the execution of the Chapter 380 agreement. This puts the deadline for construction to begin in spring of 2013.

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ASARCO Ready For Development By 2015


Conceptualization including stacks that may or may not be saved from demolition.

Roberto Puga, the trustee appointed to oversee the remediation of the Asarco site, stated this week that those interested in saving the smokestacks at Asarco have nine months left to come up with the plan and $14 Million needed to insure and retrofit the historic icons/blights. Puga delayed the demolition of the stacks for one year in order to accommodate the group seeking to save the stacks.

In an El Paso Inc. story, Puga also said that he would like one master developer to purchase all 350 acres, which span both sides of I-10, and that the site would be ready for sale in 2015, a short three years away. A new change in the plan includes topping the site with five feet of clean soil and not the asphalt surface that was in the original plan.

Puga also reinforced that the City has a large say as to the use and design of the land, regardless of who ultimately purchases it. This includes Smart Code zoning and transportation design that can be overlaid on the property prior to sale. Some Smart Code applications have already been approved. The City, with the help of design firm Dover Kohl, envisions a mixed-use development that could include an impact project, such as an arena or amusement park to anchor the property.

[jonathaninATX]

Lot of great things happening in El Paso....

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Originally Posted by jonathaninATX

Lot of great things happening in El Paso....

Yeah, the city is bursting at the seams so I'm hoping for some verticality by the end of this latest cycle.

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Where does City Hall go?

image hosted on flickr

the Plaza Hotel

Two former El Paso mayors have very different opinions about City Council’s dramatic decision to move ahead with a minor league baseball deal – a deal that would mean building a new stadium where City Hall now stands.

Former Mayor Joe Wardy loves the baseball proposal, while former Mayor Larry Francis has a world of reservations about it. “They’ve not shown anybody that I know of any numbers on a spreadsheet on what this is going to cost everybody,” Francis said. Wardy’s take: “I’ve always said the devil’s in the details, but I totally support where they’re going with this.”

Meanwhile, current El Paso Mayor John Cook, who missed Tuesday’s council meeting, is uncharacteristically quiet about the deal that could put city employees into one of two historic buildings belonging to Western Refining exec Paul Foster: either the Blue Flame or the Plaza Hotel. Cook said he suggested to Foster that he donate the Plaza building to the city and reported that Foster said he would think about it. Foster could not be reached for comment.

In a November interview with El Paso Inc., Cook expressed strong opposition to giving up the 10-story City Hall to make way for a ballpark or a multi-purpose sports venue. But last week, Cook said simply, “I will defer to the will of the entire council.” It would be hard and maybe impossible to find an occasion when Cook made such a statement on an important issue in his seven years as mayor.

This week, the mayor did express reservations about moving City Hall into a new or existing building that the city does not own, except on a temporary basis and “as long as it’s a sweet heart deal.”

As it happens, Foster is a member of the MountainStar Sports Group that’s trying to bring a Triple-A baseball team to El Paso. According to Cook, Foster has offered the city a temporary home in the Blue Flame Building. “He’s done the asbestos abatement, which he started earlier this year, and he said he is committed to revamping the (heating and cooling) system, which he would have to do for anyone, and upgrading the elevators so he can get the certificate of occupancy,” Cook told El Paso Inc.

One question is whether Foster would do all that to the Blue Flame, a 16-story building that’s been vacant for years, only to have the city move permanently into the Plaza Hotel, where he would likely have to make the same improvements. The Blue Flame stands a stone’s throw from the county courthouse in the midst of an area city leaders call the “government district” and where they have been talking about moving City Hall for a decade.

The Plaza Hotel, on the other hand, is in the heart of the entertainment district across from the declining Camino Real Hotel, whose owners, city leaders say, will only upgrade if there is a new competitor nearby.

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Next At Montecillo: Senior Apartments

Posted: Sunday, July 1, 2012 6:00 pm | Updated: 6:06 pm, Sun Jul 1, 2012.

By Robert Gray El Paso Inc. staff writer | 1 comment

The developer of a novel $777-million urban village on the Westside called Montecillo is putting the finishing touches on the site’s first four buildings, which mix urban apartments with retail, and jumping forward to the project’s next phase.

This week, EPT Land Communities begins building an active senior living community called The Retreat at Monticello. Construction will take 18 months, company executives say.

Also this week, the first residents move into the The Venue at Montecillo – smart-growth style apartments designed with young families and urbanites in mind.

The senior community would be located on West Castellano Drive behind The Venue, which is now being finished along North Mesa Street.

It’s all part of the 293-acre Montecillo development that extends from Mesa Street to Interstate 10 and between Castellano and Festival Drives.

The urban village is the first to follow the city’s smart code adopted a few years ago.

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2 Foster Buildings In State Of Revival

Plaza Hotel at left, Western Refining's Mills Building at right.

By Vic Kolenc \ El Paso Timeselpasotimes.com
Posted: 07/04/2012 03:06:32 PM MDT

The long-vacant, 19-story Plaza Hotel building is in the process of being gutted inside to make way for future redevelopment of the historic Downtown building.

Meanwhile, the cooling system and elevators are being brought back to life in the 16-floor Blue Flame Building, another large, vacant Downtown building.

The Blue Flame Building has been mentioned as a possible candidate to house City Hall employees. The weekly newspaper El Paso Inc. this week suggested the Plaza Hotel may also be a candidate to replace City Hall.

Both buildings are owned by Western Refining founder Paul Foster, part of a group trying to bring a minor league baseball team to El Paso as part of City Council's plan to build a baseball stadium on the land where City Hall now sits.

"I haven't had any discussions about where City Hall would go," Foster said in an interview last week.

"I know one of the things they (city officials) are looking at is trying to find places for office space to go temporarily," Foster said. "That was probably the biggest motivation for me to try to get that building (Blue Flame) back up to speed so that might be a location they consider as a temporary home."

Foster said he hired an air conditioning contractor to get the air conditioning and air handling systems in the Blue Flame Building working again, and the elevators also are being checked to make sure they work safely, he said.

"It's a perfectly good building with a lot of office space," Foster said.

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Downtown Garage Transforming Into Bank, Office Building

A long-time parking structure is making a new transformation into a bank and office building at 401 E. Main near the financial sector of downtown El Paso. Steel beams, cranes, and construction workers mark the progress being made at what will become a new location for the United Bank of El Paso del Norte.


Current parking structure

According to specification details on the architect's website, the first floor will become the bank's downtown location, while the second and third floors will remain parking levels. A fourth and fifth floor will be added and become lease-able office space.

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El Paso Times

El Paso economy grows at slow pace in first quarter

By Vic Kolenc / El Paso Timeselpasotimes.com
Posted: 07/09/2012 02:22:53 PM MDT



El Paso's economy grew at a slow pace in the first quarter, but job growth continued to shine, the Brookings Institution's latest MetroMonitor shows.

El Paso's overall economic output grew 0.7 percent in the January-April quarter - slightly better than the average 0.6 percent economic growth rate for the nation's 100 largest metro areas combined.

El Paso jobs grew 1.1 percent in the first quarter, compared to an average 0.5 percent average growth rate for the nation's 100 largest metros combined.

"Employment growth has been steady in El Paso," said Sid Kulkarni, a Brookings' research assistant and co-author of the MetroMonitor.

The strongest job growth in the first quarter and in the last four quarters were: Real estate services; trade, transportation and utilities; finance and insurance services; health-care services; and leisure and hospitality (hotels and restaurants).

El Paso had a less severe decline in employment during the recession than many other metro areas, and steady employment growth since the recession ended, Kulkarni said. El Paso's employment hit its recessionary low point at the end of 2007, Brookings reported.

El Paso's employment growth since the recession ended ranks 12th among the nation's 100 largest metro areas. El Paso's overall recovery since the recession ranks 29th among the large metro areas, Brookings reported.

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Dunkin Donuts Relaunches: 8 More El Paso Las Cruces Stores Planned

Northeast El Paso has a brand-new, rebuilt Dunkin' Donuts store. It's just the first step in a Utah restaurant management company's grand plan to reintroduce the brand to the Borderland.

Sizzling Platter, a Salt Lake City-based company, held its grand reopening Wednesday for its Dunkin' Donuts store at 9114 Dyer.

The company bought this store, which had been closed by its previous owner in September 2011, and the store at 1105 Yarbrough in mid-January.

It also entered into an agreement with Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Brands Inc., the parent company for Dunkin' Donuts, to open up to eight more stores in the El Paso-Las Cruces market in the next five years.

Two additional stores are already under construction in El Paso -- at Redd and Resler on the West Side and George Dieter and Rojas on the East Side -- said Pat Wagner, a partner with Sizzling Platter and the company's Dunkin' Donuts brand manager. They are expected to open this fall, Wagner added.

A store in Las Cruces is expected to open in spring 2013, Wagner said.

Amazingly the chain has few stores west of the Mississippi. Expect many more throughout Texas and beyond!

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Cielo Vista, Sunland Park Malls Announce Store Openings, Renovations


Cielo Vista Mall

By Paula Monarez Diaz \ El Paso Timeselpasotimes.com
Posted: 07/14/2012 10:17:15 AM MDT

New stores are opening and some are being renovated at Cielo Vista and Sunland Park malls.

They include Finish Line, Forever 21, AT&T, Shiekh Shoes, Teaze, Modas Carolina, Kor Hair and Gratiae.

"We're excited to offer a number of new retailers and remodeled stores to the community and our visitors," said Cindy Foght, area director of marketing and business development. "These new additions will enhance the vibrant shopping environment found at Cielo Vista Mall and Sunland Park Mall."

Here's what's new:

*Shiekh Shoes will open later this month. The store carries all types of footwear, from women's high heels and kids' sneakers to men's boots. It will also carry men's apparel and women's handbags and a wide array of men's basketball shoes, men's running shoes, men's training shoes and skate shoes. The 2,492-square-foot store will be in Cielo Vista Mall in the Lower Level, Center Court across from Michael Kors.

*Forever 21 will be reopened in August. The clothing store features trendy designs and the accessories. The 20,738-square-foot store is on the upper level of Cielo Vista Mall by Dillard's West.

*Finish Line has just reopened after its remodeling. The athletic retailer offers brand-name footwear, apparel and accessories. The 3,414-square-foot store is on the lower level at Cielo Vista Mall across from Victoria's Secret opened its 1,275-square-foot store recently on the upper level of Cielo Vista Mall near Men's Dillard's West.

*AT&T opened its 1,275-square-foot store recently on the upper level of Cielo Vista Mall near Men's Dillard's West. It offers a broad array of phones including BlackBerry, iPhone and Android.

*Teaze opened its doors in June in Sunland Park Mall. The 750-square-foot store carries a sweetly flavored tea beverage invented in Taiwan in the 1980s. It is on the upper level of the mall in the food court.

*Modas Carolina, which offers evening wear including wedding gowns and prom dresses for women young and old, has opened. The store is on the upper level, close to Dillard's North entrance in Sunland Park Mall. It has 1,829 square feet.

*Kor Hair, which offers hairstyling items and accessories, has opened in Sunland Park Mall. The 49-square-foot store is across from American Eagle and Hollywood Nail.

*Gratiae has also opened in Sunland Park Mall. It carries spa treatment items for skin, body and bath. The 49-square-foot store is on the lower level across from Express Store.

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El Paso Looks To Oklahoma City


OKC's $2 billion in publicly financed improvements
have resulted in over $5 billion in investments.

In the early 1990s, Oklahoma City was on its back, crippled by the oil bust, a city that people were fleeing because of high unemployment, little opportunity and failing schools. Today it is a very different place, attracting billions in private investment, tourists and city leaders from around the country, including El Paso, who flock there to see what they’ve done – many with an eye to following their example.

But it hasn’t been cheap. The public investment, much of it yet unspent but planned, is about $2 billion. The reward has been close to $5 billion in private investment. “What we’ve really done is realize that the key to economic development is creating a place where people want to live,” Mick Cornett, Oklahoma City’s mayor since 2004, told El Paso Inc. “To do that, you have to do everything. It’s not just sports or the arts or affordable housing and no traffic congestion; it’s all of those things. You’ve got to do it all, and having a sports component is very important.”

El Paso city planners and City Council members know the Oklahoma City story. But El Paso voters don’t, and they’ve always been wary of City Hall adventures that mean higher taxes. They’re just beginning to weigh the decisions they’ll be asked to make at the polls this fall: funding for a new baseball stadium Downtown and a $468 million menu of bond projects, among others.

To the city’s political and business leaders, the Nov. 6 election offers El Paso the opportunity to dramatically change its future the way San Antonio, Albuquerque and Phoenix did years ago – with enviable results. But others feel they’re being asked to buy an expensive ticket to step into the unknown: a darkened Halloween house filled with fateful turns and scary choices, higher taxes and lots of changes.

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UTEP Campus Enhancement Plans Unveiled


Western Gateway


Streetscape along Hawthorne


A new Centennial Plaza will be created


Miner Alley

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Project Update: Venue At Montecillo

The Venue at Montecillo is the first phase of a planned 288-acre smart code development which will eventually be home to 2,500 apartments and almost 500 homes.

The next phase of the project includes a retail/restaurant incubator called T.I.M.E. which will help entrepreneurs develop new ventures and will be open to the public, and a senior-retirement apartment community called the Retreat at Montecillo.

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El Paso faces Time Crunch on Moving City Hall

With a Triple-A baseball team coming to El Paso in 2014, the city is now crunched for time to find a new home for its employees and to build a $50 million ballpark to house the team.

The process could take a major step forward Tuesday, when the City Council will consider buying two Downtown buildings to begin relocating city staff.

A third property, the El Paso Times building at 300 N. Campbell St., will be discussed in executive session. "We've looked at several options in terms of buildings we can lease or purchase, and whether we can break up city employees into different buildings," Deputy City Manager Bill Studer said. "We will present the options, and council will have to decide what we do next."

The ballpark will be built where City Hall and the Insights Science Center building now stand. The council voted in June to demolish the buildings by February so that construction on the ballpark can begin. The city has to have a baseball stadium built by April 2014, when the first season of the yet-to-be-named El Paso team will begin play.

Tuesday, the council will consider purchasing the 62,400-square-foot Luther Building at 218 N. Campbell St. for about $17.4 million to relocate the Information Technology Department. The building, owned by Luther Acquisition Limited Partnership, will have to be brought up to code and undergo extensive renovations and remodeling before the city closes on the purchase, according to the agenda.

The second

building the council will consider buying is at 801 Texas St. and is owned by Harl E. Dixon. The 70,000-square-foot building will be bought for $2.3 million and will house the City Development Department, where the public frequently goes for things such as building permits. Renovations are expected to cost about $10 million, city documents show.

Both projects, which total about $30 million including the renovations, will be placed under the city's Capital Improvement Program and will be paid for with certificate of obligation bonds. The bonds don't require voter approval but are repaid with taxpayer dollars.

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