by Tim Trujillo

About the author: Tim Trujillo is one of the co-founders of Urban ABQ. He is an urban designer and planner currently based in San Francisco, CA

A recent headline announced that City of Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller is doubling down on his decision to build a soccer stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park. When leaders make decisions like these it’s the community that ultimately has to live with them for decades and generations. We all want the NM United soccer team to stay and thrive, but the city has a chance to do better than placing a sports venue in the outskirts where there is little potential for residual economic value creation. Balloon Fiesta Park lacks transit options for the thousands of attendees, thus forcing most attendees to drive (usually after a few drinks) to and from a sea of parking to attend events. Meanwhile, global warming is wreaking havoc on society. This is not the return on investment (ROI) or value creation we want and need from spending large sums of public capital. 

We’ve seen this before in cities like Arlington, TX, Philadelphia, and San Antonio. These cities spent large sums of public money to construct arenas and stadiums in suburban locations surrounded by parking lots. The result has been traffic congestion, acres of rarely used asphalt parking lots contributing to the urban heat island issue, and little residual value creation or vitality aside from what occurs in the venue during events. Without mass transit options, these places don’t exhibit equity. It is the complete and total opposite of sustainability, which most cities (and leaders) claim to value. 

Most cities in the developed world have witnessed the results of poor planning and have gone in a different direction – cities like Denver, El Paso, Louisville, Des Moines, Omaha, Houston, Seattle, Sacramento, Portland, Raleigh, Denver, Charlotte, Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Nashville, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg…you get the idea. They constructed sports venues in or near their city cores in order to utilize existing infrastructure and reap the residual benefits. Increased spending at local retail, restaurants, and bars, hotel bookings for visitors, and increased land values drive investment and ultimately send additional tax money back to the city to pay for municipal services. San Antonio has begun discussions to build a new downtown arena for the Spurs and make good on their previous mistake because they want the resultant vitality that comes from thousands of visitors spending money at local businesses and driving value in their downtown. 

Back in the early aughts, Albuquerque made the decision to redevelop the old Albuquerque Sports Stadium, where the former Dukes baseball team had played for decades. There was debate about whether to renovate the old stadium or build a new one downtown. In the end, the powers that be agreed that renovating the stadium would be cheaper and faster. Unfortunately, that premise was proved false because the price tag crept up after the decision was made and ultimately cost nearly the same as the proposed new downtown stadium. This was at the same time that revitalization had kicked off in earnest downtown, leaving many feeling as if they’d been bamboozled, knowing that a downtown stadium would have created additional momentum in the revitalization process – a better ROI. There’s an apt saying: you get what you pay for. 

Later in the same decade, the state decided to renovate The Pit instead of building a new arena downtown. The state promised that the renovations would restore the facility to its former glory and include all of the modern comforts of new arenas. For $60 million, the result is a facility that is still only good for a limited number of sports, has terrible sound for concerts, and never met the standards set forth by the NCAA to host the annual men’s basketball tournament. Again, you get what you pay for. 

Future Opportunities

Now the city has a chance to learn the lessons of its own past, as well as the lessons of other cities’ successes and failures, and invest in centrally located public venues that leverage existing infrastructure, spur investment, and meet community goals for downtown redevelopment, and do so in the most sustainable manner. Our downtown has existing transit connectivity and large amounts of unused parking. Downtown business owners would love to receive a shot in the arm in the form of increased sales. Hotels would receive relief from pandemic-related impacts through room bookings for visitors to the city looking to attend events. Land values would increase and more tax dollars would get recirculated back into the state and municipal coffers for critical services. This sort of value creation does not occur at the fringes of town with few amenities nearby. For downtown to thrive, our government needs to make these large investments to drive people, value, and spur private investment. Scattering dollars here and there just doesn’t have the same impact. I’d bet that a downtown soccer stadium would have a significantly greater impact on downtown revitalization than a ~$80 million Rail Trail for roughly the same amount. But imagine if they were placed in proximity to one another to leverage those combined investments. 

The urbanist fantasy depicted in the above diagram (click to expand) was developed as a very rough study to better understand the capacity of downtown to house large public venues like an arena, a soccer stadium, and a performing arts theater, catalytic projects that would boost revitalization. What emerged is a blaring series of opportunities between 1st Street and Broadway Boulevard on both sides of the railroad tracks that allow for flexibility and considerable new development of all types in a manner that meets the community goals for redevelopment. Imagine the impact this level of investment would have not only on downtown but the region’s psyche of who we are and what we can achieve. The above illustration is just a concept meant to start a conversation. The following is an explanation for each element of the diagram.

Soccer Stadium

The parcels bounded by Lomas, Broadway, Mountain, and the railroad tracks comprise just over 18 acres in total. USPS had been looking to relocate to a more modern facility with better freeway access a decade ago and this site is a glaring opportunity. The area is large enough to place a soccer-specific stadium and still has enough space for new residences and open spaces such as stadium plazas and a neighborhood park. The parcel is deep enough to allow for liner buildings along Broadway that would help buffer Martineztown – which is already buffered by commercial and a new stormwater facility. A stadium footprint could be oriented to minimize visual, audible, and circulation impacts on nearby neighborhoods. The stadium footprint I used to illustrate this concept is the 11,700-seat (expandable to 15,300) Louisville FC Stadium. This location is close enough to leverage the mass transit availability at Alvarado Transit Center where fans from as far as Belen and Santa Fe can alight and walk less than 10 minutes to the stadium and not have to worry about driving home after the match. Others who chose to drive would have a plethora of parking options in downtown’s numerous and underutilized parking garages and lots. The key here is to not only consider a stadium but the way that it can spur development and cultural placemaking. 

Once upon a time (not long ago) when I lived in Seattle and Portland, some of my favorite memories involve attending soccer matches at CenturyLink (now T Mobile) Field and Providence Park with friends. In Seattle, we would ride the Link light-rail trains to King Street Station and make our way by foot to or from the stadium, with a stop (see: stops) at watering holes with thousands of other fans. In Portland, we would either take the MAX light rail or ride our bikes to the stadium area for pregaming (a euphemism for beer-guzzling) at a nearby bar. There is nothing like being around thousands of other fans in the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat and not worrying about the drive home. While tailgating is fun too, it’s just not the same. Having both options is the best of all worlds.

New Neighborhood and Open Space

An analysis of the 18-plus acre USPS site highlights just how much potential there is to deliver much more than a stadium and parking lot. While a garage could certainly fit, there is ample space for residential development capable of accommodating up to hundreds of new residents at an appropriate scale between the single-family homes of Martineztown and the mid-rises of north downtown. I wanted to illustrate how the stadium could be tucked near the tracks while medium-density mixed-use structures, like the new ones at Old ABQ High Lofts, could line Broadway to provide spaces for small businesses, activate the street, and buffer Martineztown.  

Arena

The existing footprint of the 1980’s east wing convention center expansion, in addition to the parking lot just to the south, could fit a 16,000-seat arena. This is the footprint of the Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. You might be wondering, but what about the convention center? I’ll get to that next. An arena here would cause very little disruption to the surrounding area because it would replace an existing large floor plate structure. Meanwhile, the garage could be retained or expanded in the existing location and be augmented by garages at One Central, Civic Plaza, and garages at Silver and 2nd and Silver and 5th. A key feature of downtown is having A.R.T. and the RailRunner, offering the ability to deliver thousands of attendees to downtown in a much more efficient and sustainable manner than in automobiles. This is why you build this kind of urban mobility infrastructure – for its efficiency. Further, elimination of the Tijeras connection under the tracks would open up a lot of newly developable land on the east side of the tracks for a plethora of uses including an expanded Innovate ABQ, new residential, office, mixed-use, and/or another garage for the arena and soccer stadium.

Convention Center

Here we have a few options. The cheapest option would be to convert Kiva Auditorium into meeting space, which would actually create more meeting space than exists in the east wing meeting rooms. Technically, Kiva Auditorium would be redundant with the arena due to its ability to host concerts and other stage performances. A new performing arts center (see next item below) would add additional redundancy and expand capabilities for conventions. A much more audacious and expensive undertaking would be to rebuild the convention center’s west wing to be taller, adding additional levels and square footage. This seems like a longer-term opportunity due to the slowly recovering convention market but I’m just throwing it out there as it is feasible without requiring additional land. In either option, the floor level of an arena could double as exhibition space to replace the east wing’s large showroom. 

Civic North RFP Proposal: Performing Arts Center

I dropped in the footprint from my favorite Civic North RFP response, Reunion Center, which proposed a 2,500-seat theater, a black box theater, a 220-room hotel, over ten thousand square feet of retail, and 117 residences in a stunning tower. The city lacks a theater like this (the nearly 60-year-old Popejoy Hall is smaller and can only host so much) and we have heard for years that downtown needs more hotel rooms to compete for bigger conventions. Seems like a win-win. Does anyone know why Keller canceled this RPF?

Railyards Park

The Railyards are the southern anchor of the Rail Trail. Something missing from downtown is a variety of open spaces for people to relax, socialize, and be surrounded by trees and vegetation. It would be nice to see additional space carved out for open space uses along the Rail Trail and this seems like a great opportunity. 

Conclusion

Of course, a vision like this comes with a hefty price tag but big plans are intended to be completed over time, sometimes within a decade if well planned and funded. As Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.” A careful phasing and funding approach would be key to making something of this scale work.

Oklahoma City provided a sublime template for how to fund and construct large projects over time to greatly increase the quality of life in a city, which has paid dividends in increased commerce and improved in-migration patterns following an initial investment of just over $300 million. Similarly, Des Moines spent $217 million in 2002 for their arena and convention center, while Omaha spent $507 million in 2000. The result for these cities has been billions of dollars of private investment due to the scale and location of their infrastructure and venues, along with events that those cities were never before capable of attracting. Cities who chose to locate venues in downtown have all seen their city cores come back to life as a result of their commitments, yet we continue to ask why downtown Albuquerque is failing and why young and educated folks are leaving for more exciting cities.

No philanthropist is going to rush to our aid and no billionaire is going to bail out downtown or build our venues. Albuquerque will need to commit to investing real money if we truly want downtown to thrive. If we’re going to spend these large sums of money, we better be damn certain we’re getting the best bang for the buck (ROI) and hold our city leaders accountable for their whims. Keller should not propose the stadium at the Balloon Fiesta. Every person rooting for downtown, as well as every soccer fan, balloonist, urbanist, and environmentalist should let the mayor and their councilors know that this is not the answer. I’m curious to know how the ballooning community feels about a large structure near the landing field and I’m also highly doubtful that this is the favored option by New Mexico United ownership. What we do know is that the Balloon Fiesta Park Master Plan explicitly prohibits outdoor stadiums, in which case it is unlikely that the community will feel any different this time around. Regardless, we should hold off until we receive a better proposal.

People are always impacted by big decisions, but our leaders are supposed to stand up for the right thing for the entirety of the city, not capitulate for votes and what is easy and cheap. People shouldn’t need a car to attend events at public venues, where is the equity in that? 12th and I-40 is the next best option as it is centrally located and builds off the Rail Trail. For crying out loud, even a Fairgrounds stadium would be leaps and bounds better than Balloon Fiesta Park. Just say no to a stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park.

For perspective on successes and failures in cities and their stadia, check out this YouTube video from an urban planning expert who goes by the name CityNerd.