LOWRIDER MUSEUM HITS SPEED BUMP
Plans to develop the old Hunter Ford Complex have been delayed
Earlier this year, there were hopes that Española’s longanticipated Lowrider Museum would be open for the city’s 2018 Lowrider Day.
But the event takes place on Sunday and museum project leaders are still waiting for a physical location to move into.
Members of the Lowrider Museum coalition, a group of local car aficionados and city and county representatives, say the delayed groundbreaking on a larger community development project at the old Hunter Ford Complex on Paseo de Oñate has left them at a crossroads.
“Our main concern is that we just need a building,” said Melissa Velasquez, interim city clerk and the lowrider coalition’s vice president.
“So long as we have the building, we will figure out how to fill it up.”
She said the coalition will still have “some presence” at this year’s Lowrider Day, which starts with a 2 p.m. procession of lowriders down Industrial Park Road to Española Plaza, where there will be a social gathering with parked cars, food trucks and music.
The coalition members will be there to talk about the status of the project and inform residents about its new website that went live about a week ago, Velasquez said.
Earlier this year, the plan was for the museum be a part of a shipping container park
within the larger Hunter Arts & Agricultural Complex, a $4.2 million project to turn an old car dealership across from the Plaza into a community center centered around food, events and local retailers.
In 2015, a local nonprofit was awarded a federal grant of $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to redevelop the dealership property. Bank loans are planned to fill the gap in the project budget and rent or lease payments from tenants is expected to pay off the debt.
The organization in charge of the Hunter Ford development, Chicanos por La Causa New Mexico (CLPC) — also known as Siete del Norte, a nonprofit that was acquired by CPLC a few years ago — agreed to provide the local match for a grant for the Lowrider Museum from the state Tourism Department Rural Pathway Project. The grant is for up to $50,000.
Back in February, CPLC CEO Roger Gonzales said that in order for the lowrider coalition to meet a June 30 grant spending deadline, the multi-phase Hunter Ford construction project would likely get started around March, with hopes that the museum could move in this summer.
“This is something we wanted to move forward much sooner than has actually happened,” Gonzales said this week.
But in April, when the bidders for the Hunter Ford redevelopment provided cost estimates for four phases of the project, the estimates came in at more than $8 million, nearly double the project budget. That caused CPLC to “scale down” the scope of work.
Gonzales said that the original layout had plans for about 80 shipping containers on about 28,000 square feet of vacant land and for remodeling existing car dealership structures.
Now, the organization is looking at creating about 14,500 square feet of facility space using 23 containers, remodeling the car dealership’s old garage and creating an outdoor event space, in two phases.
If CPLC can get bank loans approved later this month and a green light from the nonprofit’s board, Gonzales said the plan is to finally award a contract and start with Phase 1 of the project around September.
Phase 1 would be an 8-month construction job to create 6,500 square feet of the container park space, including space for the Lowrider Museum, the outdoor event space, and a location for the Española Community Market and individual local farmers in the old garage. That would cost almost $2.4 million.
If more capital can be raised in the future, a second phase will add another 8,000 square feet of container park space.
The state has extended the lowrider coalition’s spending deadline to Dec. 30 because of the delays. According to Velasquez, the number one choice for the museum is still the planned container park. But she said that if the group doesn’t hear about any official plans from CPLC soon, the museum might have to move on to a backup plan in order to keep the grant money.
“It’s just up in the air right now until we get more definite answers,” she said.
According to coalition president Fred Rael, the Lowrider Museum group been looking into possible other locations.
Gonzales said CPLC is “actively” working with the county and city to help search for alternative sites in case the Hunter Ford development is delayed again. He acknowledged the “difficult” position that the lowrider coalition is in as they try to secure a physical space in time to meet the grant deadline.
“If certain things don’t materialize, we will respect (that) and help them find an alternative site,” he said.
As per the grant’s stipulations, according to Rael, any facility would have to be a publicly owned building or one owned by a nonprofit.
“Until I see the construction going up and the equipment, I’m not going to hold my breath,” Rael said earlier this week in reference to the Hunter Ford spot.
He added that the coalition hopes to have a physical space — one that could show two or three cars and with other exhibition space — locked down by December. If that happens, he’s aiming for a spring grand opening.
If the museum ends up at another site, the coalition might need to secure another source for the grant money’s local funding match, something Rael expressed confidence about, given local interest in the project.
In the meantime, the lowrider group has established a website, also being described as a “virtual museum.”
“It’s a repository of all things lowrider,” said Rio Arriba County economic development director Christopher Madrid, whose office spearheaded the online project along with other agencies.
The site at espanolalowridermuseum.com outlines the mission of the museum coalition, a calendar of lowrider-related and city events, and an area dedicated to pictures and information about “key figures” in the Española lowrider community.
That includes Ben Vigil Sr., who owned the first New Mexico car to be on the cover of Lowrider Magazine, and Julian Quintana, who founded a popular upholstery business in the 1970s.
Velasquez said the coalition also will host a community event Aug. 23 at Northern New Mexico College to answer residents’ questions about the status of the museum.
Despite the coalition members feeling “anxious” about securing a physical space, Rael said he remains hopeful that the Lowrider Museum will find a home soon.
“I’m very patient,” he said. “I build cars that take three years to build, so I know (the museum) won’t happen overnight.”