First bidders on midtown plans to give answers

City officials expecting to decide costs, timelines from developers’ submissions

While the Santa Fe City Council has approved several plans to guide the redevelopment of midtown, many decisions and negotiations remain before a makeover of the 64-acre former college campus begins in earnest.

The timeline and costs for infrastructure like roads and water lines is not clear, but the results of the city’s first solicitations for midtown developers will bring answers, according to city officials.

The city has issued three requests for proposals related to the midtown site, with the deadline for responses the first week of March.

The requests seek bids for developer/operators for the Greer Garson Theatre and Garson Studios, calling for a production studio facility and lot, a visual arts center and a performing arts center.

The proposals the city receives for those facilities will play a large role in determining the path forward for midtown infrastructure.

“Our infrastructure investment and construction plan will be built around what those proposals suggest,” Public Works Director Regina Wheeler said in an interview. “It all depends on the disposition strategies.”

Wheeler said more concrete plans for addressing midtown infrastructure will come during the yearlong period of due diligence that will follow the current bidding process for the first three facilities at the site.

Redevelopment of the site is planned for two phases of construction, according to the master plan, during which infrastructure and private development can occur strategically.

The city’s preliminary cost estimates for roads, water and sewer infrastructure at midtown, according to studies completed by a third party firm in the fall, come to just above $23 million in both phases. Roads make up most of this estimate, at more than $21 million.

Although electricity infrastructure on the site has not been addressed, those costs have been attributed to Public Service Company of New Mexico, the provider.

Since midtown is slated to be powered and heated solely by electricity, natural gas lines will no longer be used, according to the master plan.

“Existing gas lines will be abandoned and electrical trunk lines within the right of way will be upgraded to support 100% electrification of existing and future buildings’ energy needs, including climate control, and to provide adequate supply to support electric vehicle charging,” the plan says. “Specific electric infrastructure will be development dependent and costs may be borne by developers of specific parcels according to the specific need of the development program associated with that parcel.”

While the midtown site’s master plan identifies several possible funding sources, recent presentations from the city’s Economic Development Department pledged the financing will come “primarily from developer contributions,” with some “public sources such as federal grants, state legislative funding, and local sources such as gross receipts taxes or property taxes that can be leveraged through gross receipts taxes bonds and general obligation bonds.

“It is possible that the city may initially pay for road construction using bond debt, but over time, most of the cost will be recaptured through developer contributions,” the plan says.

In 2021, prospects for the site were unclear after a Texas-based master developer backed out of its agreement with the city, citing concerns over the project’s financial risk and the cost of infrastructure replacement.

In a January 2021 letter, the master developer group called the existing infrastructure “incomplete and obsolete,” estimating the project could require $30 million in public subsidies.

Infrastructure for midtown is a capital priority for Santa Fe during this year’s legislative session — the city is requesting $10 million in state money over the next five years for “midtown infrastructure development.”

Other midtown capital projects on the city’s wish list include the rehabilitation of Fogelson Library for $22 million and other “historic and cultural significant renovations” at the site at a cost of $11 million.