Alto St. club hits market
Original location of Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe up for sale as nonprofit continues to shift its focus to where kids live
For several generations of local kids, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe was synonymous with a heavily used and well-known building on Alto Street. That’s about to change. The venerable property that for decades housed the Boys & Girls Club and other programs is up for sale as the nonprofit continues to shift its focus to other parts of the city where more kids live.
The Boys & Girls Club plans to put the land at 730 Alto St. up for sale, and the city intends to list the building for sale as well. The club owns the land, while the city owns the building.
Opened in 1943, the Alto Street location was the club’s first building.
“That building is slated for public sale notice, likely within the next 30 days,” said city spokesman David Herndon in an email. “We are working through the diligence and marketing process these next two weeks.”
The city’s Office of Economic Development will be assessing how much the property is worth but has not yet determined a value, said Herndon, who added the planned sale comes as the office reviews “all active and underperforming land [and] property assets.”
But the planned sale is creating uncertainty for E&G Baseball Academy, which has offered baseball camps and training services for all age groups for three years at the Alto
Street site, said the academy’s co-founder, Ian Farris.
Presbyterian Medical Services also has operated an early childhood program in that building.
Farris said the baseball academy is planning to ask the next building owner to continue leasing the property. But Farris said he’s considering all options with academy co-founder George Dellos, including potentially constructing their own building, anticipating an expansion after the coronavirus pandemic ends.
“Like everybody, everybody’s wondering what’s gonna happen next,” said Farris, who’s also an assistant coach for the Santa Fe High
School baseball team. “I feel positive, and we’re grateful we were able to use this. It was a huge help to our program to get a space that was that big. Without it, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
The for-profit academy has about 40 kids actively coming on a weekly or monthly basis to the Alto Street location to train in small, four-person groups. It also offers a weight room to teens enrolled in baseball training programs there.
There are five Boys & Girls Club locations in Northern New Mexico, including three in Santa Fe, one in Española and one in Santa Cruz, said Sarah Gettler, assistant executive director of the club.
In 2019, there were seven Boys & Girls Club sites across Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties, each serving between 30 and 90 children daily, Roman “Tiger” Abeyta, the club’s chief professional officer and also a Santa Fe city councilor, said at the time.
A location in Pojoaque closed in 2017, while other locations in Abiquiú and Chimayó closed temporarily in 2019, Gettler said. The club is hoping to reopen the Abiquiú and Chimayó facilities for summer programs in 2021.
Although others have leased the Alto Street location, Gettler said the Boys & Girls Club hasn’t used it in about four years. The club shifted its attention to the south side of the city, where demand was higher for after-school and summer youth programs, she said.
Toward the end of the club’s use of the building, the nonprofit was busing in kids from three schools on the south side of town to Alto Street because there were fewer kids and more competing afterschool programs in that area.
“We’re just looking to optimize our assets and to continue operations of how we’ve been serving youth … without that building,” Gettler said. “We are constantly trying to adapt to our current challenges.”
About 78 percent of Santa Fe children under the age of 19 live south of St. Michael’s Drive, according to data compiled by the city and the University of New Mexico. More than 4,400 of about 18,000 kids live in a triangle between Cerrillos Road, Airport Road and N.M. 599.
Gettler said the sale of the Alto Street property will not affect the club’s operations.
The Boys & Girls Club has provided homework assistance, instruction in technology and the arts, sports, and programs meant to develop personal character and leadership skills. It also has awarded college scholarships and sponsored a Halloween carnival and Christmas toy giveaway in the past.