Old faces, new places: Defined, Bosque Brewing
Afew companies with New Mexico roots are embarking on ambitious expansion efforts into areas they see as underserved.
Workers are busy assembling the exterior shell of Defined Fitness’ 35,000-square-foot new gym, at the northeast corner of Central and Unser SW. Defined Fitness, which opened its first gym in Albuquerque more than three decades ago, is making progress on its first gym in Southwest Albuquerque, and now is looking to open this autumn.
Maria Lamar, director of marketing for Defined Fitness, said the expansion represents a commitment to the city that the gym started in, as well as an opportunity to move into a neighborhood with limited access to large gyms.
“We felt it was important to go in and serve that part of the community,” Lamar said.
Lamar said Defined Fitness purchased the parcel, at 8050 W. Central, several years ago but opted to wait for retail activity in the area to pick up before building.
Once it’s complete, the new gym will feature a mix of different types of equipment. In addition to a pool and standard exercise equipment, the gym will feature recovery rooms with hydro-massage capabilities, and space for group training, Lamar said.
Perhaps the most unusual feature is the mix of indoor and outdoor space at the gym. Lamar said it will contain a turfed outdoor area, with access to equipment including core bags, tires and kettlebells.
The gym is just a small part of Defined Fitness’ aggressive expansion. Lamar said a new gym is opening in Santa Fe near the end of the year, and the company is renovating two of its gyms. Lamar said the company hopes to double in size in the next year.
“At this point, we are on pace for it,” she said.
Bosque Brewing West Side
Elsewhere on the West Side, Bosque Brewing Co. is getting ready to start building its second brewery, off Coors NW. Justin De La Rosa, marketing coordinator for the brewery, said the brewery originally planned to open a new brewery near the Pan American Freeway but opted for the West Side instead, citing the relative shortage of breweries operating in the area.
“I think the West Side just, in a sense, fell by the wayside when all the brewing took off,” De La Rosa said.
Bosque began brewing in 2012 at a brewery on San Mateo. Since then, the brewery has opened taprooms across New Mexico, including in Las Cruces and Nob Hill, while opening Restoration Pizza, a pizzaand-beer restaurant near Paseo Del Norte that utilizes differently abled employees. With more restaurants and taprooms to serve, De La Rosa said, it made sense to add another brewery in the brewery’s hometown to augment its current center of operations in Bernalillo.
Bosque worked with Josh Skarsgard of Retail Southwest Development to identify parcels on Albuquerque’s West Side that fit its requirements. The empty parcel that the brewery decided on was appealing because of its location near other restaurants, such as Panera Bread and Starbucks.
“This is an opportunity where we get to have something built from the ground up that meets our needs and specifications,” he said.
The new West Side taproom and brewery will be around 18,500 square feet, with space for both indoor and outdoor seating. De La Rosa said a 9,500-square-foot beer garden is part of the project.
Around 4,000 square feet will be dedicated to brewing equipment, and De La Rosa said the new facility will have the capacity to brew 5,000 barrels of beer, about 20 percent of Bosque’s total production. De La Rosa added that the new brewery will focus primarily on small-batch and seasonal beers, such as the brewery’s Cashmere IPA and Driftwood Oatmeal Stout.
De La Rosa said the new facility will be completed in 2020, though he didn’t provide a more specific date.
With recreational cannabis still potentially on the horizon in New Mexico, a national cannabis operation is planning to expand quickly in the Land of Enchantment.
PurLife Management Group, which operates dispensaries in three states, opened a dispensary in Farmington earlier this month. The new dispensary is PurLife’s sixth in New Mexico, and the company hopes to reach 10 locations by the end of the year, according to co-owner Indy White.
“There is definitely a patient need in NM even if recreational (cannabis) isn’t on the table,” White said.
White said PurLife opened its first medical cannabis dispensary in New Mexico, at Carlisle and Menaul NE, about three years ago. Since then, the company has opened two other Duke City dispensaries, as well as locations in Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences.
White added that expanding into Farmington made sense because of the shortage of cannabis in northwestern New Mexico. He said San Juan had the secondlowest rate of residents enrolled in New Mexico’s medical marijuana program. Before PurLife’s soft opening, only two dispensaries were in operation in San Juan County, according to the New Mexico Department of Health.
Despite the new location’s proximity to Colorado, where recreational cannabis is legal, White said he’s confident that it will be attractive to patients.
“I think Farmington has the most room for growth,” White said.
He added that more PurLife locations are coming, including new dispensaries in Rio Rancho and Alamogordo, two markets the company sees as similarly underserved. Additional New Mexico dispensaries will be announced later this year.
White acknowledged that the possibility of legalization is a factor in the New Mexico expansion. After a bill that would have legalized recreational marijuana stalled in the state Senate this year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham created a task force to develop a framework for legalizing the federally illegal substance ahead of the 2020 legislative session.
“We believe that recreational is going to happen in the next couple of years,” White said.
In the meantime, PurLife plans to build a loyal base of medical patients in Farmington. The dispensary is in a soft opening phase and plans to extend its hours to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m every day starting July 29.