Acquisition/Rehabilitation:
Albuquerque's downtown area is rapidly growing and redeveloping. Revitalization efforts have resulted in millions of dollars of investment in downtown commercial and housing property and while these improvements are beneficial to Albuquerque as a whole, they are causing a rise in real estate values, taxes, and rents that are gentrifying the core neighborhoods and displacing low-income residents. Two downtown neighborhoods have requested the assistance of SCLT in curbing this displacement through SCLT projects.

Wells Park, a predominately low-income, people of color neighborhood, is located east of the Arbolera de Vida project. It has had a long-standing problem of absentee landlords that have held property in vacant and rundown condition in anticipation of higher prices in the future. This speculation has contributed to neighborhood blight and a high level of resident transience. In addition the neighborhood is losing residential housing stock to commercial uses such as legal and other professional offices. And finally, the area is seen as a dumping ground for a number of undesirable projects such as a radioactive medical waste facility, motels for sex offenders, and a police holding facility. Community leaders have identified over 30 scattered-site houses that will come up for sale in the near future and SCLT desires to acquire and rehabilitate them for low and moderate-income homebuyers and renters. This is a tremendous opportunity to stabilize a gentrifying downtown neighborhood through a community land trust program that preserves affordability for future generations.

In 1992, Sawmill area neighborhoods were declared blighted by the City of Albuquerque under the State's Metropolitan Redevelopment Code. This area is defined as Interstate I-40 to Mountain Road, and 4th Street to Rio Grande Boulevard. It is characterized by fragmented land-use and a number of large underutilized or vacant land parcels. It includes several large industrial sites that are currently up for sale for a total of at least 50 acres of developable land. The community remains organized and wants a Metropolitan Redevelopment Plan to direct the redevelopment of these sites into a mix of housing, commercial and recreational uses with a pedestrian oriented urban design.

With the support of the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning, SCLT took the lead role in convening residents, neighborhood associations, property owners, and other stakeholders to work on a redevelopment plan that could be presented to the city for approval. This process began in November 2003 and in November 2004, a draft plan was completed and is being presented to area neighborhood associations for their final comment and endorsement. Review meetings will take place between December 1, 2004 and January 30, 2005. The purpose of the implementation phase is to have the association boards take this plan to their resident members and have them provide additional input while taking ownership of the plan's adoption. The final review process should result in additional comments being incorporated in the draft plan. This plan and the personal relationships built through the process will enable Sawmill and surrounding neighborhoods to further influence development patterns that enhance the control and power of the low income and minority residents of the area.

See the current draft of the Sawmill/Wells Park Metropolitan Redevelopment Plan.