Rio Rancho announced plans to establish its official central business district (City Center) in early 2005. The City’s concept is for the Central Business District (CBD) to become the region’s premier destination for upscale retail, office, dining, and entertainment. The development site consists of 160 acres of property and was acquired from the New Mexico State Land Office.
The CBD is located in the geographic center of Rio Rancho’s municipal boundaries in the southwest quadrant of Section 36. Access to the CBD will be from Main Street. To enhance access to the CBD, transportation improvements to Unser Boulevard and Paseo del Volcan have also been planned and funded.
Hewlett-Packard Company announced in June 2008 it would open an IT and customer support center in Rio Rancho and create 1,350 to 1,800 jobs by 2012. HP will join the City's strong existing business climate anchored by Intel Corporation and complemented by the administrative and manufacturing operations of Bank of America, US Cotton, Lectrosonics, Victoria’s Secret, Sprint PCS, Insight Lighting, Stainless Motors, and Aero Mechanical Industries, Inc.
As the newest city in a state saturated with tradition and history, Rio Rancho uniquely combines the convenience of modern master-planning and pro-business government with the cultural values intrinsic to its geographic location. The City borders historic municipalities like “Duke City” (Albuquerque), the Town of Bernalillo, the Santa Ana Pueblo, and the Village of Corrales. Rio Rancho is proud of its cultural heritage within New Mexico and allows its residents a progressive location from which to enjoy it.
With the creation of a central business district, recruitment of a Fortune 14 Company, plans for a major university and community college, and a rapidly growing population, the City of Rio Rancho is solidly fulfilling its moniker and self-imposed mandate as “The City of Vision.”
Illustrations from 2007 Visioning Charrette
Office/Retail Building
The latest addition to City Center is a 77,000 square foot office and retail building of which the City of Rio Rancho will occupy 10,000 square feet. The City Centre Office Building is expected to be complete by first quarter of 2008 or within 6-9 months of it being 60 percent leased. The remainder of the office building will be available for lease at a cost of $18 per square foot with triple net charges estimated at $6.00 per square foot.
Santa Ana Star Center
The Santa Ana Star Center's grand opening in October 2006 was marked by a puck-slapping hockey game between the New Mexico Scorpions and the Arizona Sundogs. The Star Center is a 6,500-fixed seat, multi-purpose events center with the capacity to expand to 8,500 for concerts and staged entertainment events. Total square footage for the $47 million Center is 165,000. The preliminary conceptual plan for Rio Rancho's City Center was designed around the location of this new Santa Ana Star Center and City Hall. The conceptual plan calls for the remaining 100 +/- acres of property to become a mixed-use development comprised of upscale retail, dining, entertainment, and office projects.
Rio Rancho City Hall
The second building in the CBD is Rio Rancho’s new City Hall. It opened in August of 2007, houses the vast majority of the City’s administrative offices, and comprise 60,000 square feet of space. The final cost is expected to approach $15.8 million. Pictures and a rendering of City Hall are presented below.
UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center
The UNM SRMC will be a 280,000 square foot facility on the northwest corner of Paseo del Volcan and 30th Street. The full-service, teaching hospital will open in 2010 and generate an estimated 1,632 jobs by 2020. For more information, CLICK HERE.
UNM West
On March 4, 2008 voters approved a quarter cent gross receipts tax increase to help bring a full-service UNM campus to Rio Rancho. The tax increase is expected to raise over $20 million over its 20 year life-span and will assist the university with land improvements and infrastructure costs. After June 30, 2008, Rio Rancho's gross receipts tax rate will increase to 6.9375%. For more information, visit the campaign website or see the CBD Overview above.
History: In October 2006, the University of New Mexico finalized a land swap with the State Land Office, giving the university ownership of a 216-acre, $7.6 million campus site adjacent to the CBD in Rio Rancho. The university will be a full-service campus, and with a projected enrollment of 10,000-12,000 by 2015/2020, will be the third largest university in the state. Below is an initial artists rendering. See below for more information on postsecondary education in the CBD.
Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) Rio Rancho Campus
On November 15, 2007, voters approved the expansion of CNM’s district to include the northern portion of Rio Rancho and the CBD. CNM is a 40-year old comprehensive community college offering workforce and career-technical training. It is second largest postsecondary institution in New Mexico; UNM is the largest. CNM has $23 million set aside for its first building and is in the final negotiations of acquiring 40 +/- acres from the State Land Office and UNM West for a branch campus. CNM has begun the process to hire an architect and is working on infrastructure plans.
Under a much-publicized memorandum of understanding in August 2007, UNM and CNM, the State’s two largest postsecondary institutions, agreed to pool their resources and work together to establish a higher education campus in the City of Rio Rancho. Such a partnership will combine the best of both institutions at one Rio Rancho campus, conveniently located near the CBD. The partnership will unite the services of a nationally renowned research university with the expansive educational and workforce training capabilities of the state’s most comprehensive community college.Approximately 14,000 CNM graduates are working in Rio Rancho. Below are artist and architectural renderings of the Rio Rancho CNM Campus.
