ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A $40 million development will soon go up at the gateway to downtown Albuquerque. On Wednesday, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the One Central project.
The mayor says One Central is part of a much bigger revitalization project for downtown. The sprawling six-story building will sit on the northeast corner of First Street and Central Avenue in what used to be a parking lot.
It’s slated to have apartments, retail shops restaurants, a bowling alley and a parking garage with more than 400 spots.
Albuquerque Rapid Transit work near the One Central site has been underway since last year to redesign the intersection.
The parking garage should be done by late this year with the rest of the project wrapping up a few months later.
Last summer, the city and the University of New Mexico broke ground on a $35 million collaboration across the tracks from One Central that’s called Innovate ABQ. The plan is to put a bridge between to the two developments to connect them.
The developer got a deal to make this happen and nearly half of the $40 million it will take to build One Central is coming from the city.
The groundbreaking was supposed to happen in November but it was delayed when county commissioners voted to cut the developers tax break from 30 years down to 15.
