Bernalillo riverside development plans unveiled
@Rio will feature residences, retail
The newly opened Bosque Brewing Co. in Bernalillo is about to get some neighbors, as part of a multimillion-dollar, multi-phase redevelopment that was unveiled Wednesday.
The team behind the construction of Bosque Brewing along U.S. 550 broke ground on @Rio, a 14-acre development that will be built above the riverbank on parcels north and south of the highway. Joining developers at the site Wednesday were representatives from the town of Bernalillo, Sandoval County and the Sandoval Economic Alliance.
The @Rio development will include restaurants, retail, housing, a walkway looking out onto the Rio Grande, and recreational opportunities like canoeing or kayaking, one of the owners said.
Zack Snyder of Snyder Construction said he’s partnering with Phil Lindborg, Harpal and Gita Singh and Gary Plant on the development, which will be done in phases over the course of the next few years. Counting land acquisition, entitlement and construction costs, the project will total about $48 million, Snyder said.
“We have an approved site plan from the town of Bernalillo,” Snyder said. Final approval of construction documents for the first phase @Rio, which will be three commercial buildings west of anchor tenant Bosque Brewing, are pending. Construction will begin in November.
Service-oriented businesses — restaurants, coffee shops and juice bars, gyms, barbershops, cellphone stores — are the target tenants to lease storefronts in the first phase of the commercial development, said Snyder, whose firm will be the general contractor for the build-out. Lindborg and Snyder previously collaborated on the Village @ La Orilla development on Coors just north of Montaño, which is anchored by Flix Brewhouse.
In a March 2016 Journal article that announced the redevelopment of the former Jackalope location into the brewery, the project then carried the name of Riverpointe Vistas. The @Rio project is a much more ambitious iteration, Snyder said.
As planned, @Rio will be a destination place where people come for a quick stop or to spend the day, said Snyder.
“Tying the development to the river is a natural,” he said, adding that “tens of thousands” of commuters and residents drive U.S. 550 every day. The new development dovetails with road improvements along Bernalillo’s major east-west arterial. The $40 million project will include widening the highway from four lanes to six, building a new bridge, bike lanes and sidewalks, and reconstructing the intersection with N.M. 528 intersection to improve traffic flow.
In addition to working with local governments, Snyder said the @Rio team has met with various agencies that would be impacted by the development, including the state Department of Transportation, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Nature Conservancy.
The developers want to be sensitive to the flora and fauna on and along the nearby river, Snyder said.