Work set to begin on Bishop’s Lodge renovations
While New Mexico’s economy still is not growing as fast as the rest of the United States, its prospects are far better than where they were a year ago.
“We’re looking at positive growth; the trend is definitely positive,” said Jeff Mitchell, an economist with The University of New Mexico’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research. “We’ve seen the bottom.”
Mitchell made the comments last week at a conference of the New Mexico Tax Research Institute. One big reason for the stability in the state is a higher price for crude oil, which has increased enough to support more development and hiring, The rig count in New Mexico is now at 58, up from the low of 13 in March 2016.
Mitchell also emphasized that the state has so far dodged a bullet with any Republican-led changes for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. If that policy changes and President Donald Trump rolls back health-insurance coverage, all bets are off for continued improvement.
Mitchell also said that new data indicate the recent recession may have been a blip for many states — and most economies have largely recovered — but it was a fundamental shift in New Mexico. The national economic slowdown affected businesses and government in a way where new jobs are more technological and skills-based.
“Places with a high level of human capital skills
do well, places with less do less well,” Mitchell said.
Because of that, New Mexico’s inferior public education — a trend that goes back two decades — is now taking its toll on economic growth. “It’s not as simple as political leadership or who the governor is,” he said. “The underperformance in education the past two decades is coming to bear.”
Another big construction project starts this week with the redevelopment of Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa.
The project has proven more complicated than originally thought by HRV Hotel Partners, the owners who purchased the 300-acre property in 2014. But with this week’s start, the owners expect to be back operating in time for next summer’s 100th anniversary of the resort, said Richard Holland, managing partner with HRV Hotel Partners.
Financing for the $75 million redevelopment is being provided by investment partner Evolution Real Estate of Dallas. Bradbury Stamm Construction is the general contractor, and the job will bring another 230 construction jobs to the area, with the gross receipts taxes from the purchase of supplies and materials going to Santa Fe County.
In a statement released Monday, Holland said he is “re-positioning the property to appeal to today’s upscale leisure and social event markets.” When completed, the resort “will evoke romance from an earlier time of the great camps, the national park lodges, and the dude ranches of the West, combined with state-of-the-art high-end resort accommodations, amenities and guest activities.”
The 116 guest rooms and suites in the upgraded resort will include 12 three- and four-bedroom villas, and all rooms will include an indoor fireplace and either an outdoor fireplace or fire pit.
The new Expedition Cabin will house outfitters, instructors and guides. The resort also will offer fly fishing and whitewater rafting expeditions, led by expert guides, to locations in Northern New Mexico.
Visit www.bishopslodge.com for more information, including construction progress, and stables information and reservations.
Jon Barela, the former state Economic Development Department director, is one of the Republicans in the business community opposing efforts by President Trump to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Barela is now chief executive officer of The Borderplex Alliance, a consortium of businesses and others in Texas and New Mexico who depend on border trade. The group emphasizes that 5 million U.S. jobs depend on trade with Mexico.
“There is no question that NAFTA has been the vehicle for economic expansion for states along the U.S.-Mexico border, but the same effects stand true for states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, where Mexico is the second largest export market for all three states,” he said.
“Here in the border region, we see firsthand how embracing Mexico as an economic partner allows businesses to thrive as exemplified by the sophisticated manufacturing supply chains that employ thousands of individuals and create jobs for both nations,” Barela said.
Trump has so far come down on the side of researching the treaty, then moving forward with a renegotiation among all three countries — the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Bradbury Construction Stamm is the general contractor, and the job will bring another 230 construction jobs to the area.