ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – If you’ve been to Presbyterian hospital downtown, you’ve seen the empty lots across from it. They’ve been sitting that way for decades. 

The Springhill Suites hotel went up on the corner a few years ago in the first phase of a massive project called The Highlands.

Now, with one vote of approval from Albuquerque city councilors, we could see progress continue on that part of Central.

“People love food halls. They like the variety,” said Terry Brunner, director of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency. 

It’s one of the next steps in the multiphase The Highlands Project.

“They are filling in vacant spaces, vacant lots with no buildings on them, and really providing an economic development opportunity for that part of Central,” said Brunner. 

The Springhill Suites opened in 2021. The next phases include a food hall market, a long-term residence for hospital workers on assignment or family of hospital patients, and an apartment complex.

“It really will get a lot more people out into that area. That’s why they need the food hall is they should have people staying in that long-term stay area, people that are at the hospital now have dining options and things like that. So it should amplify the activity in that area,” Brunner said.

Brunner says this is the kind of growth Albuquerque needs in historically blighted areas. 

“You had some older buildings, not much in a commercial way, or hotels or anything in that area for 20 plus years. And so it’s nice to have somebody take the opportunity to redevelop it,” said Brunner. 

Brunner believes finances and interest rates have played a role in the timeline for the local developer on the project. 

City councilors could make that aspect easier for them with the approval of tax abatement at an upcoming meeting.

“It just means they won’t be reassessed. It means that the assessor can’t come in and now assess that property as if there was a large building on it,” said Brunner. 

Brunner says that break will save this local developer about a million dollars. 

“Because we will freeze the taxes at the level they’re at for seven years, which gives them a lot more revenue or a lot more cash, in a sense, on the front end of the development. They’re not paying an increased property tax because there’s a new facility on that property,” Brunner said. 

Incentivizing one project for the sake of the whole area. 

“This whole corridor down Central from the University of downtown, we hope is changing and for the better,” said Brunner.