{"id":674,"date":"2019-08-10T22:01:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-10T22:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/?page_id=674"},"modified":"2019-08-10T22:01:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-10T22:01:00","slug":"pact-signed-for-railroad-shops","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/?page_id=674","title":{"rendered":"Pact Signed for Railroad Shops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Michael Turnbell
Albuquerque Journal<\/strong>
Thursday, February 24, 2000 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the moment Leba Freed looked inside the empty\nlocomotive repair shops at the edge of Downtown, she knew her idea of a\ntransportation museum had found the perfect home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was nearly two years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, that idea blossomed to include a\ntrade show and exposition center with offices, restaurants, shops, pubs, even a\nhotel fashioned after the historic Alvarado razed in 1970 — still built around\nthe vision of a “living museum” of transportation history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, the Urban Council took a critical\nstep toward making it all happen. The private, nonprofit corporation, which is\ndedicated to revitalizing older areas of the city, signed an agreement to buy\nthe old Santa Fe railroad shops between Second Street and the mainline tracks\nfor $2.5 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council is making a down payment of $100,000\nto the Fort Worth-based Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. It has three\nmonths to come up with the rest of the money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s overwhelming that we have an\nopportunity to do economic development for the state of New Mexico as well as\nsave these historic buildings,” said Freed, president of the Wheels Museum\nboard of directors and vice president of the Urban Council. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban Council president Joe Craig called the\nproject an immense undertaking but said it is feasible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craig pointed to the Sandia Peak Tram, which might\nhave seemed like a pipe dream before it was built but now is one of the city\nand state’s biggest tourist attractions. “If you don’t start somewhere,\nyou don’t get anywhere,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Urban Council, which is working with the\nWheels Museum group, is taking the lead on the project because it will include\na mix of uses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The museum will be a significant component\nbut it will not be a dominant use of the square footage,” said Franklin\nConaway, an urban development consultant from Ohio. “By breathing new life\ninto these buildings, the entire site will be a museum.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A marketing study showing the potential for the\nexposition center\/museum should be finished in three weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Urban Council will do an environmental study\nand have the property reappraised. Conaway said it will take about a year to\ncomplete plans, come up with long-term financing and decide how to manage the\nproject. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A preliminary study showed the buildings, which\ninclude 350,000 square feet of space, would attract conventions and events that\nbypass Albuquerque now because the convention center isn’t big enough. The\nproject is to cost $70 million. Most of the money is expected to come from\nprivate investors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conaway said developers will have financial\nincentives to become involved with the project because they could qualify for a\n20 percent federal tax credit to renovate the historic shops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last fall, Conaway said a new Amtrak station in\nthe heart of the proposed exposition center could be key to the project’s\nsuccess. The station would also serve excursion trains besides Amtrak that\ncould take passengers to Santa Fe or special events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Amtrak’s participation is in doubt because\nGreyhound is negotiating with the rail service to sublease space in a new rail\nand bus transportation center planned by the city north of the railroad shops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conaway said the Urban Council and Wheels Museum\ngroup want to work with the city on projects that would be mutually beneficial,\nsuch as transportation linking the exposition center with the existing\nconvention center and other big projects planned Downtown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another group, the Historic District Improvement\nCo., is working with the city to revitalize a 12-block area around the rail and\nbus hub with a 14-screen theater as an anchor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Turnbell Albuquerque Journal Thursday, February 24, 2000 From the moment Leba Freed looked inside the empty locomotive repair shops at the edge of Downtown, she knew her idea of a transportation museum had found the perfect home. That was nearly two years ago. Along the way, that idea blossomed to include a trade…<\/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-674","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/674","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=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":675,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/674\/revisions\/675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}