The city of Albuquerque will use $25 million in federal grant money to transform the Uptown Transit center into a multi-use facility with housing, restaurants and retail. The money is from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program, otherwise known as RAISE, which was expanded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Mayor Tim Keller said the total estimated price tag for the new Uptown Transit Center is about $50 million. Half of that money is from RAISE. Keller says the projects receiving these grants are supposed to be public-private partnerships. The city owns the land and the two private developers on the grant application are Family Housing Development Corp. and Palindrome Communities, the company behind the El Vado Motel redevelopment and other projects around the city.
This project will be reconstructing an existing bus platform on America's Parkway, between Uptown Boulevard NE and Indian School Road NE, . It will include six bus docks, 402 parking spaces, and protected waiting areas.
The structure will not only be a transportation facility, but aims to provide a mix of affordable and market-rate housing above the transit center, as well as restaurants and retail sites.
Mayor Keller says that this project is something the city has been pursuing for awhile.
“This is about connecting housing to public transit. It’s where you can live and access public transit all over the city. This will be literally the first example of this in New Mexico,” he said.
Mayor Keller also said the facility being built will include transit security and staff 24/7.
“So right now, we do have a lot of challenges with safety because the parking lot that serves as the ART stop is just a parking lot. It's not secure at all,” said Keller.
He says the redesigned center will be much different and safer. The city is also getting $18 million from the Infrastructure Act to purchase 20 new electric buses.
