Vision of Mesa Del Sol becoming reality.
Apr. 22—It's like watching a city rising up from the ground.
For our cover story, the Journal recently visited Mesa del Sol to hear about the massive development taking place at Albuquerque's southern edge.
We met with Steve Chavez, who gets referred to as the mayor of Mesa del Sol, and other developers at the Aperture Center, a beautiful 78,027-square-foot, mixed-use building designed by world-renowned architect Antoine Predock. Large windows throughout the building provide a way to look out over an area that is ripe for development.
On the second floor of the building, space has been taken over by Maxeon Solar Technologies, a Singapore-based company that has selected a site on Mesa del Sol to build a solar cell and panel factory. There is a sign for the company, but no one had moved in yet when we visited.
Outside the center is a grocery store with high-end products. We were the only ones there when we visited.
There are neighborhoods brimming with parks throughout the area, but beyond those homes there are empty acres and untapped land.
As we drove around the neighborhoods, we saw families walking dogs on the way to a park and rows of houses under construction. I don't know if I can remember seeing a similar site in Albuquerque. A line of 10 or so homes with construction workers hard at work building the homes at the same time.
In the future, Mesa del Sol could be a major part of Albuquerque. And driving through it at the moment shows what is essentially a city being created.
Currently, Chavez said there are several thousand people who live in Mesa del Sol and about 8,000 to 10,000 people who work in businesses there. There is a pre-K through 12th grade public charter school.
But in the coming years, it's possible there could be 150,000 people living in Mesa del Sol, according to developers.
Before that, there's going to be lots of news coming out of the area. Developers said they are hoping that Mesa del Sol will have its own exit off of Interstate 25. Currently there are two roads to and from the site. There will also be questions about public safety, patrol, firefighters and health care opportunities.
Mesa del Sol one of the few places where Albuquerque can grow within city limits. The city is hemmed in by a mountain range to the east and pueblos to the south, west and north.
The concept of developing Mesa del Sol has been around since 2002. But in recent years, the project is gaining momentum. And Chavez said he wants to keep that momentum rolling. He predicts that Mesa del Sol will morph into a bustling, exciting, new community in the next three to four years.
