Las Cruces Sun-News POSTED: 07/18/2015 10:38:30 PM MDT
By Diana Alba Soular
LAS CRUCES >> About a year from now, there will be children playing on a splash pad to cool off from the summer sun on the north end of the new downtown plaza. Music lovers will hear concerts on the elevated permanent stage at the south end. In between will be a sun dial built into the pavement of the courtyard’s center. This is according to a plan adopted by city councilors in March, and what plaza developers hope will become an “outdoor room” for residents to enjoy.
The style of the architecture and features, such as park benches and columns, will match the nearby section of revamped Main Street, city officials have said.
The “outdoor room” concept the city is striving for means multistory, private development will eventually encompass all sides of the plaza, said Andy Hume, the city’s downtown development coordinator. The west “wall” already exists with the Rio Grande Theatre and other buildings on Main Street. The north “wall” will be the remodeled Bank of the West building, he said.
“It’s very important; if you look back on the history of New Mexico plazas, they all have two- and three-story buildings surrounding them, like the Mesilla plaza has, and there’s a street all the way around,” Hume said.
Ideally, there will be a mix of living spaces and businesses, including retail, Hume said.
The plaza, once built, will be able to hold about 1,500 seats. Events could range from large performances to church services to wedding ceremonies to — if the venue is otherwise not booked — impromptu jam sessions by musicians, city officials said. Closing off the streets around the plaza would allow for larger events.
And, City Manager Robert Garza said, those visitors to downtown will want services from restaurants and shops that should spark private investment.
“I think there will be an opportunity from the private sector to say: ‘Wow, a captive audience on a relatively frequent basis; I think we need to take advantage of that,'” he said.
One-year time line
There will be three general phases of plaza construction. It will start with demolition of paving and other structures, city officials said. A monument to St. Genevieve church will be removed from the site.
“Work starts Aug. 1,” Garza said. “Everything is looking ahead. Once demolition starts, it will take about 12 months to complete the entire project.”
Secondly, there will be an excavation stage because there is a lot of underground infrastructure that must be moved and replaced, Hume said. Utilities must be moved from underneath the site so that when they require repairs in the future, the plaza won’t have to be torn up to do the work. Upgrades to electrical infrastructure will allow for the lighting and sound needs of concerts and performances — as well as serve the surrounding neighborhood.
“It’s a double bang for our buck,” he said.
Lastly, the new plaza, along with two streets, will be built. The former Organ Avenue, an east-west route closed during the 1960s and ’70s urban renewal, and a street on the east side of the plaza.
Growth potential
The city owns a building known as the Camunez Building to the west of the plaza site next to the Rio Grande Theatre, which it got from the state, Garza said. It had a number of environmental problems, such as asbestos.
“We’ve done a complete environmental cleanup with the anticipation of the plaza being built and finding someone that says: ‘Wow, I want to move in here,'” he said. “That building can be used for a whole variety of things from retail to other commercial uses,” he said.
The city’s municipal court complex, which includes the city’s historic post office, is on the east side of the plaza. A part of the building that’s not historic could eventually be torn down and replaced by a private development. Hume said the city would likely look to sell the land if someone steps forward with a development proposal. “We have an opportunity to work with companies or individuals on development,” Hume said. “But the city is not interested in becoming a developer.”
The city is also in the midst of adopting a downtown zoning code. Proposed new projects will have to align with those goals, Hume said.
Arianna Parsons, executive director of the nonprofit Downtown Las Cruces Partnership, said she expects the plaza to serve as a catalyst for attracting new businesses to the downtown.
“Let’s say that even two new projects happen as a result of the plaza,” she said. “Even two new retail and housing projects will have a huge impact on downtown. Those two are probably going to spur at least one or two more.”
Garza said one of the key measures of the plaza’s effectiveness will be the growth in commercial activity downtown.
“The true measure of success will be how the land uses around the plaza evolve and change and create a stronger downtown presence,” he said. “Because a plaza all by itself is not necessarily going to draw people downtown. It’s the restaurants and the eateries and the bars and the social part of downtown.”
In addition, Hume said the city will be looking to find out how many days the plaza is used for events, as well as public feedback about the project.
“It’s going to be important to gauge citizen feedback,” he said.
Other steps
The civic plaza may be a major step toward revitalization, but won’t be the last one, city officials have said.
The next major project entails the conversion of Water and Church streets — both one-way routes — into two-way streets, Hume said.
The city has about $4.8 million from the Tax Increment Development District — portions of city, county and state shares of sales and property taxes collected for the purpose of downtown revitalization — for roadwork, Garza said.
Also, encouraging more housing downtown will be important to keep businesses — like restaurants — open after 5 p.m. and the end of the work day, Hume said.
A sense of place
While economic development is a driving factor behind revitalization, some noted the plaza will serve another important need: boosting quality of life for residents and help regain the lively feeling lost with urban renewal.
“Downtown was the center of the city, where people came to meet, to shop, to eat, to go to church until urban renewal happened in the 1960s,” said architect Steve Newby, who is working with plaza developer Las Cruces Community Partners. “Prior to that there had been some flight into our first mall, but urban renewal put the marker on the grave of downtown. And then the pedestrian mall which existed for almost 40 years killed what was left of that bustling downtown. I’ve been working for the last 30 years to bring that back and I think we’re very close to bringing the bustle back to the city center.”
Hume said it will be impossible to return to the downtown of yesteryear, but agreed the plaza has potential to “rebuild the spirit of community that downtown stood for,” something he views as important as the economic development aspect. Birthday parties, quinceañeras, wedding photo shoots are among the day-to-day activities that could happen at the new plaza.
“But when you’re talking about quality of life, how do you measure that?” He said. “Well, I think you measure it in the renewal, the rebirth of the spirit of community that has been, frankly, dormant for many years and is slowly and surely coming back to life. And the plaza is going to be a huge next step in that renaissance.”