By Sean Olson – Journal Staff Writer
February 26, 2008<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Practicality is the key to redeveloping the Barelas rail yards, according to a panel of national experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While many are spending their time imagining what could be for the century-old rail yards near Iron and Second, an Urban Land Institute panel focused on what couldn’t be done in a report released Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The restraints for the 27-acre parcel\u2014 poor road access and large connected buildings\u2014 make it a poor choice for some development options, panelists said in a presentation Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Larger grocery stores and retail outlets would not have the parking or access needed to establish themselves inside the area, panelists said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Office space was also out of the question. No boutiques either. “(The panel) didn’t pull any punches,” city councilor Isaac Benton said Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the presentation illustrated the need for a rational thought process among the city, community and developers to make the rail yards work\u2014 and still provide a service to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The panel did have some suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most notably a park surrounded by the historic rail yard buildings\u2014 one of which would become at least 30 units of affordable housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another would become a new space for the local Wheels Museum, a transportation museum that helped secure the historic site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An anchor tenant, such as a film or art studio, would be needed early on to drive the development, panelists said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Landscaped paths connecting the National Hispanic Cultural Center on 4th and Avenida C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez and downtown\u2014 by way of the rail yards\u2014 was another recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The panel stressed that no matter what development options the city chose, it should make sure to hire a master developer for the area and remain flexible throughout the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The council will put out a request for proposals to find an experienced developer soon, Benton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The city bought the rail yards for $8.5 million in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have been used recently by film studios for feature films and commercials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Sean Olson – Journal Staff WriterFebruary 26, 2008 Practicality is the key to redeveloping the Barelas rail yards, according to a panel of national experts. While many are spending their time imagining what could be for the century-old rail yards near Iron and Second, an Urban Land Institute panel focused on what couldn’t be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1909","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1910,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1909\/revisions\/1910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}