September 10, 2007
California firm has big plans for Albuquerque growth - big, as in 55,000 acres
By Erik Siemers, Albuquerque Tribune
Monday, September 10, 2007
Tribune
Will Steadman of SunCal climbs a sand dune on the company's massive open property west of Albuquerque. At 55,000 acres, the former land grant is nearly 22,000 acres larger than Las Cruces, and its development will change the face of Albuquerque. Although they say it's too early for specifics, company officials say they don't want sprawl. For example, Steadman says the company hopes to preserve these dunes as open space.
From where he stands, staring east from the edge of the escarpment, the views are stunning.
The Sandias and the Albuquerque cityscape seem even more radiant when viewed from far away, atop the starkness of the West Mesa, the city's latest frontier.
"Man, every time I come up here . . ." Will Steadman says, his voice trailing off. "It's something else."
Someday that vista may grace promotional literature for Steadman's employer, SunCal Cos., the Irvine, Calif., land developer ready to wield its influence on 55,000 acres of Albuquerque's future.
It's an enormous endeavor - likely the largest single land development project the Albuquerque area has ever seen - and one that's unusual for its size alone.
At 55,000 acres (most of which lies in unincorporated Bernalillo County), it's nearly 22,000 acres larger than Las Cruces. If incorporated in its entirety, it would become New Mexico's third-largest city in terms of acreage, after Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.
Also unique: This massive tract of land is held by one company. And despite never having developed a piece of land this large, SunCal and the urban planner the company has hired believe they can change the way Albuquerque grows.
"That the project is owned by one party is very unusual," said Stefanos Polyzoides, the Pasadena, Calif., urban planner hired by SunCal for the project.
"The only way to change the development environment of Albuquerque is to have somebody in place to conduct the process like the conductor conducts an orchestra."
The land has a history that dates back to 1692, when Don Fernando Duran y Chaves II received a 41,533-acre land grant from the Spanish government as a reward for service during the Pueblo Revolt.
By the late 1800s the land grant had grown to nearly 83,000 acres, stretching from the Rio Grande west to Rio Puerco. In 1967 the Westland Development Corp. was created to manage the land grant on behalf of its heirs.
In December, SunCal, along with financial partner D.E. Shaw Group, a hedge fund based in New York City, purchased the remaining 55,000 acres from Westland for $250 million, or $315 per share for the 800,000 remaining shares.
"The former Westland property was a very compelling transaction for us," said Bill Myers, a SunCal regional president who oversees the company's projects in Northern California, Northern Nevada and New Mexico.
"You have a very well-educated and diverse community and population; you have an affordable component, which really is remarkable; you have four-season weather, yet it's mild," he said. "And those fundamentals, from our perspective . . . really indicates that growth will occur in Albuquerque."
The company's plans for the project are largely unmapped. SunCal hosted a weeklong intensive planning session in April in which it drafted preliminary plans for a 1,500-acre project called the "Lower Petroglyphs" anchored along I-40 and 98th Street Northwest.
As far as the rest of the project, company officials have said it will likely be planned as a series of communities rather than one large development. But officially, SunCal has not released any plans, and Myers wouldn't estimate how many years it will take to develop.
"You can't sit here today and look at a crystal ball and see where it should be," Myers said. The project "will evolve over years and things will change."
What the privately-held, family-owned company can speak to is its work elsewhere.
SunCal, with more than $3 billion in assets, has more than 70 projects in various stages of development across California, Nevada and, now, New Mexico.
They include Pacifica San Juan in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., a collection of 416 homes overlooking the Pacific Coast selling for around $1.2 million.
And there is Amerige Heights in Fullerton, Calif., the former site of a Hughes Aircraft Co. facility that now holds 1,150 townhomes and single-family homes, a 300-unit apartment complex, and 700,000 square feet of retail and commercial business space.
In each of its communities, the company says it has put a premium on setting high quality standards for its builders; on providing a variety of housing opportunities; on leaving ample space for parks, walking paths and greenspace; and on developing a feeling of community.
"I don't think you'll ever find a SunCal community that has all the same lot sizes, all the same home sizes," said Kelly K. Buffa, an independent planning consultant who worked with SunCal on Amerige Heights, which was completed last year after five years of construction.
Buffa recently led a tour of the Orange County neighborhood, which was designed by New Urbanist planner Peter Calthorpe, the planner of Mesa del Sol on Albuquerque's southeast side.
Buffa points to the small details, like how the front porches of homes sit close to the street as a means of forging neighborly interaction, how the streetlights in alleys are timed and controlled by a homeowners association, how the streets are named after prominent city figures.
And the amenities: the community has dozens of parks, including a 10-acre sports park, and a 5,000-square-foot community activities building.
"Every child in this community can safely walk to a park and be able to go play without Mom having to take them," Buffa said.
While SunCal can boast about the successes of its California communities, it has developed nothing resembling the size and scope of what it's undertaking in New Mexico.
The closest is Ritter Ranch in Palmdale, Calif. - and that's a long shot.
At 11,000 acres - 7,000 of which are to be preserved - it's SunCal's largest development to date. It will include 7,000 homes, 80 miles of trails, an 18-hole Greg Norman golf course, a lake, amphitheater, swim center, and 73 acres of commercial space including a town center, according to company literature. The first families are scheduled to move in next year.
Ritter Ranch is vast rangeland, a series of hills and valleys neighbored by things like a llama ranch and a cherry orchard. Cattle still graze there, near where a once-fertile almond grove withers.
"It's kind of secluded," said Joel Medina, the project's construction manager, as he stood on a ridge above a cherry orchard while giving a tour in April. "It's far enough from the city to give you some seclusion."
Since about 1989, the property - once owned by cowboy singer Tex Ritter - had gone through two developers, both of which saw their progress languish as they entered bankruptcy, said Laurie Lile, the city of Palmdale's assistant manager for development services and its former planning director.
SunCal bought the land at auction in 2004 for about $57 million. And since then, both Lile and at least one adjacent neighbor have lauded the company for being transparent and inclusive.
"SunCal has been a very responsible developer for the community," Lile said. "They came into the development after it had been languishing for many years and did quite a long due diligence process, made connections throughout the community and with adjacent communities that abut their development."
Providing testament to this is Phyllis Tremblay, co-owner of the Lazy T Ranch, a small business offering horse boarding, riding lessons and trail rides on 13 acres attached to Ritter Ranch.
Tremblay said her property was always a target for previous developers.
"When they had money, they wanted to buy us out," Tremblay, 76, said of the previous developers. "They want us because we're right in the middle of it. We're not ready to sell."
SunCal, she said, has spurred honest and open discussions with her family.
With SunCal, "we decided at the beginning let's just be honest with each other. We've argued different points. We understand their point of view," Tremblay said. "They've been very fair, this company. We really believe they are fair."
The company is making similar efforts to reach out in New Mexico.
For starters, they've hired local leadership, an apparent attempt to show they aren't a bunch of outsiders.
That team is led by Steadman, a West Side native, real estate lawyer and former midfielder for the now-defunct New Mexico Chiles professional soccer club.
SunCal also hired Luisa Casso, the former head of the Downtown Action Team who is leading the company's economic development efforts, and Vanessa Alarid, SunCal's government affairs manager and the former executive director of the New Mexico Democratic Party.
"We intend to be a part of the community," Steadman said.
SunCal is also making efforts to reach out early on contentious issues.
Much like their friendly counterparts at Mesa del Sol, SunCal officials are hoping to receive the benefits of tax-increment financing.
The City Council in December approved a plan in which Mesa del Sol developer Forest City Covington will spend 67 percent of future gross receipts and property tax revenue on building infrastructure. The Legislature approved a similar plan.
The moves drew criticism from groups like smart-growth advocates 1,000 Friends of New Mexico that liken it to a government subsidy for developers.
And City Councilor Michael Cadigan has introduced legislation that would place various conditions upon developers like SunCal before they received a similar tax-increment plan.
Should SunCal not receive a similar plan, Myers said, "it would be significant. I think it would result in us not achieving the initial vision we have."
Myers said SunCal is working with the city on tax-increment financing legislation, but it's also working to hear out groups like 1,000 Friends of New Mexico.
Gabriel Nims, the group's executive director, said it's encouraging that SunCal is willing to sit down and hear public concerns.
"They are wanting to be participatory. They want to hear what our positions are," Nims said. "I'm not going to say we're supporting SunCal, but at least SunCal has left the door open for there to be a dialogue."
Back out on the mesa, Steadman speaks of what for now are just possibilities, of what the future of Albuquerque's growth could be.
From the escarpment looking east, he envisions an urban community on the edge of the metro area with pristine views of the mountains and the cityscape.
Moving further west, he stands atop a sand dune marked only by his footprints. He looks at the bumpy and sloped topography that marks the western edge of the SunCal property and sees a future Placitas, with homes on larger lots coexisting with the rugged landscape.
But for now it's just a vision. SunCal is a company with a lot of work to do.
"That's part of the thing that's amazing about this project," Steadman said. "How it all plays out is sort of to be determined."