Planned Rio Rancho food hall on hold
Rising construction costs make development too risky
Margarita Hill was supposed to bring food hall dining to Rio Rancho, but the project is on hold after construction costs rose too high, according to developer Roy Solomon.
Solomon already had 10 local tenants lined up for the space and a building design, but the cost of construction was too high to be worth the risk, he said. The construction costs would have made rent too expensive for the planned tenants to keep their food prices affordable, he said.
“The heart and soul of what I do is all driven by the local tenants and if it doesn’t work for them, it doesn’t work for me,” Solomon said.
After seeing enthusiasm for a food hall concept in Rio Rancho, Solomon is not ready to call the Margarita Hill project dead and is hopeful construction costs will come down.
“At this point too, I’m going to have to find another piece of land, because unfortunately the land that we were going to build on, the people that owned it have gone with another project,” Solomon said. “Even though I have the design of the building and the tenants, we’re still going to have to find another location in the Rio Rancho area. But I don’t want to start that process until we’re able to get our financing properly, and then maybe.”
The project was originally supposed to be located near Unser and Westside, close to the Presbyterian Rust Medical Center.
Solomon is also the developer behind two Albuquerque food halls with distinctive shipping container construction — a feature the Margarita Hill design shares. Green Jeans opened in Northeast Albuquerque eight years ago. The food hall underwent some renovations and added new tenants after the COVID-19 pandemic began, Solomon said. Tin Can Alley opened in 2020 — a difficult time to open a restaurant concept.
The year Solomon’s Tin Can Alley opened was something of a food hall boom for Albuquerque, as 505 Central Food Hall and Sawmill Market opened the same year. Despite pandemic-related restaurant closures, all four of the city’s food halls are still in business.