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LAS CRUCES INNOVATION AND INDUSTRIAL PARK

City council adopts updated industrial park master plan; park welcomes ag, aerospace, manufacturing

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The Las Cruces City Council unanimously adopted an updated master plan on July 19 for the development and marketing of the city’s Innovation and Industrial Park (IIP).

The park, which includes about 1,820 acres of industrial zoning property on both the north and south sides of Interstate 10, is located about eight miles west of Downtown Las Cruces. The city bought the site in 1982. It was called West Mesa Industrial Park until the council voted to rename it in March.  

The city hired Market Street Services, Inc. (MSS) of Atlanta, Georgia in 2019 to assess development opportunities at the park and the adjacent Las Cruces International Airport, especially in the targeted industries of aerospace, aviation and military/defense; value-added agriculture; and advanced manufacturing, the city said.

Currently, the park has 19 tenants occupying 811,000 square feet of building space on about 340 acres, the city said. It has about 1,418 acres of undeveloped land that is platted in lots ranging in size from less than 1 acre to more than 300 acres.

The updated plan will make IIP “more competitive with other industrial parks in the region,” said Will Gleason of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, a design firm with offices in Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Phoenix and Amarillo, Texas, that the city hired to compile the plan.

“I’m excited about what this means to the city,” Councilor Johana Bencomo said at the meeting.

“People are waiting for us to make a move out there,” Mayor Pro Tempore Kassandra Gandara said. She and Councilor Yvonne Flores said broadband access at the park is critical.

“I think broadband is going to be a determining factor for a lot of businesses,” Flores said.

The park is “an economic development opportunity” for the city, Councilor Gabriel Vasquez said, adding that branding and marketing for the park, especially through websites and social media, will be an important part of creating “the potential jobs that this project represents.”

Vasquez also said he is glad the park will include footpaths, landscaping and streetscaping, giving it more of a “campus feel,” he said.

“This is a big deal,” Councilor Gill Sorg said. “It looks dynamite on paper.”

The master plan includes an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the regional economy and of IIP.

Strengths and opportunities include: the industrial park’s proximity to White Sands Missile Range; Spaceport America; two other military bases; the U.S./Mexico border; New Mexico State University being the site of one of 16 centers of excellence nationally for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and being one of seven FAA-approved UAS test sites nationally; superior interstate highway access at the junction of I-10 and I-25; and the availability of land at the park that is served by water and electricity.

Weaknesses and constraints include: a lack of available industrial buildings for sale or lease at the park; lack of a wastewater treatment plant and collection lines; slow Internet speeds and lack of high-speed fiber availability; poor aesthetics and signage; lack of food and lodging options; loss of commercial air service; and process and timeframe for parcel sales and permits.

The report also notes that in the last 20 years, “a total of 73 buildings with 2.1 million square feet of industrial space have been built in the Las Cruces metropolitan statistical area (MSA), which equates to an average of 106,251 square feet per year. Approximately 1.46 million, or over two-thirds, of new industrial space since 2000 is located in Santa Teresa with an average project size of 146,000 square feet driven by the large distribution and warehouse facilities located at the port of entry to Mexico. The City of Las Cruces accounted for 359,526 square feet, or 17 percent of total new square footage, with a much smaller average project size of 9,987 square feet.

“Based on historical growth rates,” the report continues, “Las Cruces is estimated to require approximately 138 acres of industrial land to accommodate employment growth over the 2020-2045 time period. If all of the additional space were developed at (IIP), it would still account for only 10 percent of the 1,418 acres of vacant land available land for sale. The ability of (IIP) to alter this trajectory and increase industrial employment in the city will therefore require a concerted economic development effort to recruit new industry to the city as well as to nurture new business start-ups.”

For more information on the park, contact city Real Estate Services Specialist Cilicia Villegas at 575-528-3119 and cvillegas@las-cruces.org.

To reach IIP, take exit 132 on Interstate 10, about 10 miles west of Las Cruces.

Visit www.las-cruces.org/2420/Las-Cruces-Innovation-and-Industrial-Par.

Las Cruces Innovation and Industrial Park

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