ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The University of New Mexico and the City of Albuquerque are teaming up to develop UNM’s south campus. The city and UNM, through its non-profit Lobo Development Corporation, are asking city council to approve the south campus area as its own tax increment development district, or TIDD. It would help finance development in the area.

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“This is really about job creation and using our assets, our land assets, to improve the general economy in the region,” said Kelly Ward, director of Business Development at Lobo Development Corporation.

Becoming a TIDD would help finance public infrastructure improvements on the university-owned land like roads, sewers, drainage facilities and sidewalks. The university wants to develop the mostly empty land for public use with retail and even a research development facility for the private sector.

If approved, 75% of city gross receipt taxes and property taxes from the area will go right back into developing it. “What a TIDD seeks to do is to create a set of incentives to develop in difficult to develop areas or underdeveloped areas,” said Ward. He said it would help overcome the challenges of building in the south campus area.

“In the south campus, the particular difficulty there is, is really the historic use of the land and the challenge that we have with providing infrastructure at a reasonable cost,” said Ward. “We have a lot of front-end work to do and then to be able to extend services such as sewer and water and gas, electric, roads, those kinds of public infrastructure.”

The TIDD is expected to lead to about $620 million in investment in the area over 20 years. It is also expected to lead to about 4,450 jobs, including about 222 construction jobs and 4,231 permanent jobs. The application to form a TIDD is going in front of city council on October 4.