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ARROWHEAD PARK PLANNING

Arrowhead: Building a creative city, one entrepreneur at a time

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Arrowhead Park Executive Director Wayne Savage held a live virtual event Wednesday, Oct. 14, to talk about projects planned for the near future of the park.

“We are entering into a new phase of growth,” Savage said, as he introduced New Mexico State University Chancellor Dan Arvizu.

“More than ever, what we are doing at Arrowhead is becoming more challenging and important,” Arvizu said. “Over the past two years, we have been focused on strategy. Our strategic plan outlines the direction we are headed, staying true to our land grant objectives – instruction, research and outreach.”

Arvizu said it is unlikely support from the state will be able to support higher education at the same level as it has in the past, so it’s incumbent on university systems to bring in additional revenues and to be in a growth mode, while focusing on positive revenue generation.

“In that context, Arrowhead Park in is extremely important,” Arvizu said. “It is the idea of how we do things differently in the future. Federal resources will be redirected to do things, making us more competitive and secure. Arrowhead is focused on entrepreneurial programs.”

Arvizu called Arrowhead an economic development zone.

“It is a catalyst for change where we can create and diversify economic development opportunities,” he said.

Savage said the park has four projects coming up.

In December, the park will break ground on a new three megawatt solar and battery storage facility that will provide renewable energy to both the NMSU campus and Arrowhead Park.

“The system also creates a collaborative research facility to provide NMSU and El Paso Electric opportunities to pursue development of new technologies for the clean energy grids of the future,” Savage said. “It will be coming online April of next year. The system will serve as an anchor for the long-term development of research opportunities.”

Breaking ground in January 2021 will be a new office building that will be home to Arrowhead Center and other tenants. The building is slated to be occupied by January 2022.

The 32,000 square-foot, class-A office building -- developed and built by the Goldenrod Company – “will function as an innovation center for the park, with spaces for new and existing tenants to join in collaborative efforts with entrepreneurs and NMSU students and faculty,” Savage said.

He said the park has been awarded a public works grant to build additional roadway and utility infrastructure, so it has the capability to further expand its services.

In addition, the Doña Ana Community College Creative (DACC) Media Technology Program will be breaking ground in 2022 on a facility providing state-of-the-art classrooms and lab spaces for DACC’s growing and new projects, Savage said. That building will be the initial part of a planned creative campus at the park.

 “It’s going to be a great year,” he said.

Savage said there are “key building blocks” for the coming development for a five-to-10-year plan, as well. The Tortugas Arroyo is being developed as a recreational area, including a walking park.

“There will be a mini main street we are calling Park Street,” Savage said. “It will have a mixture of retail, food and small office environments to serve as the park’s gathering place for activity and fun.”

And in the longer term, he said there are plans for development of a new interchange at Arrowhead and Interstate 10, providing greater access to the park and the southern end of the NMSU campus.

“With a plan for more than two million square feet of development space, the park seeks to promote job creation, create spaces that foster advancements in innovation and new technology and be a leader in sustainable real-estate development,” Savage said.


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