Boutique Hotel Breaks Ground at Historic Hospital Site

Renovation began on the historic Memorial Hospital site in downtown Albuquerque to convert it into the Hotel Parq Central Albuquerque.

The new boutique hotel, scheduled to open in summer 2010, will offer approximately 74 rooms, conference space and a business center, as well as amenities such as a massage room, gym, library, cafe and conservatory.

Hotel Parq Central Albuquerque. (Image courtesy Memorial Ventures LLC/Studio Southwest Architects)

The historic site, located at the southwest corner of I-25 and the southbound I-25 frontage road, opened in 1926 as the Santa Fe Hospital. David Oberstein of Memorial Ventures LLC is developing and will operate the new hotel. He was part of the company that previously developed the Inn at the Alameda in Santa Fe.

Plans for the property involve retaining and restoring as many of the unique outside features as possible since the property is on the National Register of Historic Places. The 37,000-sq-ft main building will have its rooftop medallions restored and as much of the original clay tile as possible will be used. The working features of the 1926-era windows will also be salvaged, including the frames, sashes and jams as well as the decorative tile below. The front entry’s grand stairs will be restored. Two ancillary buildings will also be rehabilitated, as will the large brick chimney housed in the maintenance building.

Approximately 20% of the 2.27-acre site will feature three lushly landscaped garden areas, patios and plazas.

Inside, the hotel will feature a blend of historic references with more contemporary furnishings and finishes. Interior columns throughout the hotel will be clad with handmade New Mexico tile and glass mosaics to resemble the decorative tile outside.

A rooftop “apothecary” bar will offer tapas and 1920s-themed cocktails in a setting that features old apothecary bottles. Designed by Studio Southwest Architects, the project is financed by Los Alamos Bank and is being built by Klinger Constructors. The Surroundings is providing landscape architecture and HVL Interiors will create the interior design. Engineers include High Mesa Consulting Group, Walla Engineering Ltd., Arsed Engineering Group LLC and AEDI.

Once the largest hospital in the state, Memorial Hospital closed its doors in 1983, and has had various private health-care-related tenants since then. Oberstein and his partners bought the property in 2003.

UNM Plans New Recreation Center

A new UNM Student Recreation Center is being planned to better serve student life and the campus community. The center will include a climbing wall, indoor running track, cardio and weight rooms, outdoor leisure pool, multipurpose rooms for indoor fitness, new locker rooms and many more upgrades and amenities.

Student Affairs, with plenty of input from students, is planning this replacement for the very outdated Johnson Center and has chosen Van H. Gilbert Architect PC, Opsis Architecture and Brailsford and Dunlavey to help with the planning and design of the new recreational center. The group has designed a three-story building that will attach to the Johnson Center with a bridge. It is planned in collaboration with new student housing and residence life projects under development. Construction could begin in a year at an approximate cost of $48 million.

APS Begins O’Keeffe Elementary School

Albuquerque Public Schools broke ground on its newest school, the Georgia O’Keeffe Elementary School located in a residential area in the Far Northeast Heights.

The original school was housed in modular buildings erected in 1988 that were razed in 2008. The school’s 600 students are currently housed in portables occupying a portion of a neighborhood park adjacent to the school site.

The new school will be built on the original site and the portables will subsequently be removed. APS will restore the park to its pre-construction form. Designed by Jon Anderson, Architect and built by general contractor Shumate Contractors, the 80,000-sq-ft, $14 million project is expected to be completed by summer 2010.

This LEED project includes phase one of kindergarten and classroom additions and phase two of kitchen/cafeteria replacement.

Recovery Funds Ramah Navajo Tribal Roads

The Ramah Navajo Chapter in northwest New Mexico became the nation’s first Tribe to receive direct road repair funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Tribe will receive more than $644,000 from the Federal Highway Administration to help resurface nearly 10 mi of Ramah Navajo Route 25 – also known as Veterans Highway – on the Tribe’s 168,000-acre reservation. The general contractor is A.S. Horner Inc.

Through the ARRA, $310 million is available for the FHWA’s Indian Reservation Roads program. Federally-recognized Tribes are eligible to receive ARRA funding based on highway projects’ estimated construction costs, volume of traffic along the route and the Tribe’s current population.

The Ramah Navajo Chapter, represented by then-President Leo Pino, was among the first four Tribes to sign an IRR Program Agreement in 2006, which allows Tribes to work directly with FHWA for their IRR Program funding instead of contracting with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.

UNM to Begin Construction of New Parking Structures

The University of New Mexico Parking and Transportation Services department broke ground on two new parking structures that will increase parking on UNM’s core campus by 1,000 spaces. They are expected to open in August 2010.

Currently more than 900 staff and faculty are waiting to purchase proximity parking permits for spaces on UNM’s core campus.

The two new parking structures will be mixed-use, featuring permitted and hourly parking spaces, while also accommodating bicycle and motorcycle parking. Additionally the structures will feature a Lobo Care Clinic for UNM employees and the ability to harness solar energy to power the structure’s lighting.

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