Sale will become final July 15, groundbreaking set for July 24 on community gathering place
Las Cruces Sun-News POSTED: 06/21/2015 02:20:23 PM MDT
By Diana Alba Soular
LAS CRUCES >> Las Cruces City Manager Robert Garza announced last week that a closing date has been set on the city’s purchase of land for a proposed downtown civic plaza.
“We have set a closing date on the property, which is the critical path forward,” he said in a council meeting Monday. “And that is July 15.”
Garza said a formal groundbreaking ceremony is tentatively set for July 24.
The construction of a city-owned plaza is considered to be one of the main highlights of a plan to revitalize Las Cruces’ downtown after decades of stagnation.
Mayor Pro Tem Greg Smith said the plaza has been discussed for years and is much-anticipated for its potential to spark renewed interest in the downtown area. The plaza is a “very important piece” of the revitalization, he said.
“I’m thrilled; this is the first time we’ve had a closing date in this whole conversation within the last 10 to 20 years,” he said. “This is huge — having a closing date.”
The proposed real-estate closing on the parcel, which now holds a Bank of the West drive-through and a historic church memorial, has been delayed a few times over the past year.
On closing day, the city will buy the land from developer Las Cruces Community Partners. The developer, in turn, will have bought it from the Bank of the West and the local Catholic diocese, which owns a small parcel containing a memorial to the historic St. Genevieve Catholic Church.
Developer Bob Pofahl with Las Cruces Community Partners said the company’s purchase of the property to sell to the city and the bank building itself will finalize July 15, as well.
“We close on it simultaneously,” he said. “It’s all under contract and in escrow.”
Said Pofahl: “We’re excited to have the plaza moving forward.”
The Bank of the West parcel includes the four-story bank building and its drive-through windows to the south. At least part of the delay in arranging for a closing was because property surveys from three different landowners in the process weren’t lining up, Garza said in a recent interview.
“And so we required a brand-new subdivision plat that delineates where all of the property lines are,” he said.
Part of that subdivision process entailed the city reviewing plans to divide what’s now exclusively Bank of the West’s property into land that, post-closing date, will be owned by the city for the plaza — the current drive-through — and land that will be owned by the developers, the bank building, according to Garza. The final plat was recently finished.
In addition, another outstanding factor was the final design of the plaza project — something delayed when when city councilors earlier this year opted to include a music stage in the initial plaza construction, rather than later on in the plaza’s development.
Garza said the stage hadn’t been part of the plaza design work up until that point, which prompted a delay. Not only did the plans have to be amended, but the cost estimates had to be re-calculated, since the proposed stage adds to the expense.
Asked about the cost of the plaza project, Garza said city administrators last week were narrowing in on the final number.
“The land that will be deeded to the city will have a final price of $300,000,” he said. “The plaza portion will be approximately $5.4 million.”
In addition to selling the plaza land to the city, LCCP also has a contract with the city to build the plaza.
Garza said he’s also planning to present a final funding package to city councilors for them to sign off on how the project will be paid for. That plan is set to appear on an agenda for a July 13 meeting of the Tax Increment Development District board.
The board, which oversees a special pool of tax dollars for downtown revitalization, is made up of the city council and a non-voting county commissioner.
Smith said he sees the plaza as becoming a focal point of the city to showcase its culture and history — “the character that’s already there” — and set the tone for future of the downtown. The plaza is one of several revitalization pieces, including proposed commercial development on the edge of the plaza, a plan to eventually move the city’s art museum into the city’s historic post office that now houses municipal court and the conversion of Water and Church streets into two-way routes.
Smith said he envisions the plaza as a place to hold wide-ranging community events, such as concerts, other performances, weddings and parties. Also, the city’s farmer’s market would use the space. The plaza will help to give visitors to the city a “sense of Las Cruces — what this place is about.”
“In a traditional city, there’s an open space at the center that’s the heart of what’s going on,” Smith said. “And we’ve been living without that for the last 40 years.”